Trade: France's Finance Minister warns of the destructive consequences of a trade war

Booth: 22:31 | Length: 2 minutes

F The French Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, warned the United States against the destructive consequences of … a trade war on the occasion of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires. "This trade war will only bring losers, it will destroy jobs and increase global economic growth," said Mayor in an interview granted Saturday at AFP in the Argentine capital.

The Mayor called the United States "to reason, multilateral rules and respect for their allies." "Americans and Europeans are allies, we can not understand why we Europeans are raised by the rise of US commercial tariffs. "

The French minister warned that world trade could not be changed according to the" law of the jungle ". On the contrary, problems must be discussed multilaterally. "The right way to solve the problems is a discussion between the United States, Europe and China," said The Mayor.

The finance ministers and central bankers of the 20 largest industrialized and emerging economies (G20) meet on Saturday and Sunday in Buenos Aires). Current trade conflicts top of the agenda

Christine Lagarde, director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has again warned that the global economy will be affected by protectionism in the world. 39, opening of the meeting. According to the IMF's simulation in 2020, global economic performance could be less than half a percentage point in 2020, at least 430 billion dollars (368 billion euros).

US President Donald Trump The EU and China have recently been labeled "opponents" in terms of trade policy. He punished both the People's Republic and the EU countries with punitive tariffs. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed in Buenos Aires the "desire for a more balanced relationship" in trade between the United States and China and the EU

The Mayor also mentioned in an AFP interview a fair taxation of Internet companies such as Google and Facebook. No one can accept that small and medium-sized businesses are taxed much more than international Internet companies, the minister said. He advocates that the EU countries take this issue a step further and agree to a fair taxation of Internet companies by 2019 at the latest.