Facing populism, world finance chiefs defend globalization

Global finance officials on Friday defended their efforts to promote free trade and closer international links against a rising ride of populism around the world and criticism from a Trump administration intent on pursuing its “America First” agenda.

Finance ministers from the world’s major economies wrapped up two days of talks, with German Finance Minister Wolfang Schaeuble saying the G-20’s efforts represented a solid response to unhappiness over globalization.

Schaeuble said a year ago people were talking about the “swan song of multilateral cooperation,” but now with the global economy beginning to grow at a faster clip “we see that things are not as bad as predicted.”

The G-20 did not issue a closing communique, but Schaebel, who served as the group’s leader because Germany holds the rotating chairmanship this year, said he and his colleagues were united in their commitment to promoting economic initiatives that will foster stronger growth. Other leaders said that higher growth was essential to combat a widening income gap in many countries.

Schaeuble told a news conference it was wrong to interpret as a repudiation of globalization Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, the populist anger that led to Donald Trump’s election in the United States, and in Germany, parliamentary gains for a far right party when Chancellor Angela Merkel returned to power with a reduced majority last month.