G20 Finance Ministers warn that trade tensions threaten economic growth

Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the 20 largest economies in the world, the G20, meet in Fukuoka, South of Japan, to discuss the global economic panorama in the face of growing trade disputes between China and the United States.

"Global growth seems to be stabilizing and, in general, it is expected to recover moderately by the end of this year and into 2020", according to the G20 draft communiqué.

"However, risks continue to be skewed downward, especially with regard to the intensification of trade tensions and geopolitics", said the text, which could undergo changes before its official publication Sunday.

The draft declaration, in which all G20 financial leaders must agree, contains a sentence in square brackets, which means that it has not yet been approved.

"We reaffirm the conclusions of our leaders on the trade of the Buenos Aires Summit and we recognize the urgent need to resolve trade tensions"says the segment of the text that is still under discussion.

If this segment were eliminated from the final declaration, this would mean a decline in the agreement reached by G20 leaders last year in Argentina, according to which the existing international trading system – the World Trade Organization trade – needs to be changed, but also helps global growth and should be improved.

G20 leaders also agreed last December to review the WTO reforms in Osaka later this month. But progress in revising the agency, which still operates according to rules created a quarter of a century ago, has been slow, in part because of US actions aimed at blocking judges' appointments. call.

A Japanese Finance Ministry official, who attended the G20 meeting on Saturday, told reporters that most members of the group were concerned that escalating trade tensions pose a huge risk to the global economy.

"While so many countries worry about the consequences (trade tensions), there seems to be some momentum to reflect that in the statement, but there is still no conclusion."said the official to reporters.

Relations between the United States and China have deteriorated since the president Donald Trump He accused Beijing early May of failing to meet its commitments to change the way it does business with the rest of the world. Washington raised tariffs on Chinese products and threatened new taxes, while Beijing took countervailing measures.

The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, Steven Mnuchin, who will hold talks with Chinese central bank officials on the sidelines of the G20 summit, said Washington wanted a free, fair and balanced trade with Beijing.

But the United States is prepared to impose tariffs on virtually all remaining Chinese imports if a "good deal" can not be struck to meet Washington's requirements for intellectual property protection and restriction of intellectual property rights. technology transfers and subsidies. state.

He said his planned meeting with the governor of the People's Bank of China, Yi Gang, would not be a "negotiation meeting" on trade issues, reinforcing the perception that there will be small advances in the dispute between the two largest economies in the world.

He added that any major progress will depend on Mr Trump's scheduled meeting with the Chinese president. Xi Jinping at a summit of G20 leaders later this month.