G20 fails to agree on free trade endorsement
March 18, 2017
Trump’s anti-globalisation agenda wins against the bloc’s decade-old tradition of rejecting protectionism.
G20 meeting was taking place in the German town of Baden Baden [Ronald Wittek/EPA]
Finance ministers from 20 world powers have failed to reach an agreement to endorse free trade and rejection of protectionism in the face of US opposition, according to the communique of the G20 participants.
The ministers and central bank chiefs of the G20 countries ended talks in the German town of Baden Baden on Saturday, making only a token reference for the need to strengthen the contribution of trade to the economy.
“This is not a good outcome of the meeting,” a G20 delegate quoted Germany’s central bank chief Jens Weidmann as saying. Germany has a $65bn trade surplus with the US.
Breaking with the bloc’s decade-old tradition of rejecting protectionism and endorsing open trade marks a win for US President Donald Trump and his anti-globalisation agenda.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday in Berlin that the Trump administration had no desire to get into trade wars but that certain trade relationships need to be re-examined to make them fairer for US workers.
