During their meeting in Buenos Aires on Sunday 22 July, the finance ministers and governors of the G20 countries' central banks agreed on a final statement that recognises trade as "a key engine of economic growth", thus marking relative détente on a subject of disagreement between Donald Trump's USA and its partners.
The final communiqué underlines the main global economies' support for international trade and investment as "important engines of growth, productivity, innovation, job creation and development".
After the fiasco of the G20 finance ministers' meeting in Baden-Baden on 18 March, where the USA had astonished it partners by challenging the global doctrine in favour of free trade and multilateralism (see EUROPE 11749), the G20 finance ministers' meeting in Washington on 21 April resulted in a consensus on the dangers of protectionism, but this was not, however, noted in the final statement (see EUROPE 11773).
While tension has remained high between the USA and its partners since the USA raised taxes on imports of steel and aluminium, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday that the USA was in favour of free and fair trade, but that it understands free and fair differently from its partners.
European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici meanwhile said that the differences in opinion on the trade tension remained within the G20, even if the Buenos Aires meeting had not been tense.
"The international trade tension is strong and risks becoming worse still, putting new pressure on the multilateral system, but its economic impact is limited for the moment. The meeting was not tense. We were both listening to each other and I hope it is the start of something. Even so, our positions are not the same", he said. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)