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Playing on both sides can have disadvantages. Well known, Mauricio Macri, caught between two fires, China and the United States, two countries with which Argentina maintains a strong seduction policy. Argentina's president and Donald Trump met at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires. The White House reported that the conversation between the two was focused on "China's predatory economic activity". It was a brief statement, signed by the Trump delegation, Sarah Sanders, but the word "predator" (" Chinese economic activity predator ") had been launched as a bomb in the land of 39; home. It turns out that Argentina calls to shout about Chinese investments, but also to the United States. This is why Chancellor Jorge Faurie had to clarify immediately. "We have neither used nor heard this word" in the conversation between Trump and Macri, "he said.
Shrapnel also reached the final document, in which trade references have reduced to the recognition of its global importance and the need for reforms in the trade sector WTO The forbidden word has been "protectionism." "International trade and investment are key drivers of growth, productivity, innovation, job creation and development, and we recognize the contribution of the multilateral trading system to these objectives. "The system is not currently meeting its objectives and improvements are possible. We therefore support the necessary reform of the WTO to improve its functioning ", reads point 27.
The document, like all the results of this type of high-level international meeting, was the e result of a linguistic exercise whose final text should please everyone. Therefore, all eyes are turned to an event from which concrete results can be expected. Trump will be dining in Buenos Aires with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, at the most important meeting of all bilateral summit talks.
The antecedents are not the best. The trade war began in June, when the United States began increasing tariffs on Chinese imports, which is already $ 250 billion ($ 970 billion). Trump accused China of manipulating its currency, the yuan, to artificially reduce its products and widen the US trade deficit with Beijing. So far this year, and despite the sanctions, numbers in red jumped 10.1 percent to $ 445 billion, according to data from the US Department of Commerce. China, in turn, also fired heavy ammunition: it accused the United States of violating free trade rules and reacted immediately by applying its own set of tariffs on US imports. . The trade deficit of the United States was a record in September and China was a big part of it. Of the $ 54 billion, $ 37.4 billion was trade with the Asian giant. Saturday 's Presidents' Dinner was an attempt to reduce tensions at the approach of a key date. On January 1, the deadline imposed by Trump to increase tariffs on Chinese products from about 10% to 25%, or about $ 200 billion, expires. Before leaving for Buenos Aires, Trump said he saw "good signs" in relations with China, but then clarified that he did not have an agreement on the agenda . "I think we're about to do something with China, but I do not know if I want to do it," he said.
President Xi answered Trump from his chair in plenary, in front of the other leaders. the entire G20 must "commit to openness and cooperation and support the multilateral trading system" ", he warned:" in six months, the number of new trade restrictive measures applied by G20 members doubled. "
Climate Change
Donald Trump was successful at this G20 meeting, turning the world's leading power into a single country over the rest This is reflected in the final declaration of the meeting: everyone except Trump, saying that the Paris agreement on the fight against climate change is "irreversible." The President of the United States has agreed to sign the text, provided that he specifies that his country "reiterates the decision to withdraw from
The G20, in its current form exactly 10 years ago, had threatened to paralyze the world economy. "The multilateral system is in crisis," said French President Emmanuel Macron. he begins to lose his usefulness. Barack Obama's leaders allowed the money to flow (with big gifts to the banks and great sacrifices for the taxpayer) and avoided a collapse similar to that of 1929. But Trump plays his own game. seems to like sabotaging international meetings. Last year, in Hamburg, the G-20 was barely able to publish a vague final declaration without new ideas or big plans. At least ten pages have been completed. This weekend, in Buenos Aires, the meeting generated a forty-page text that impresses with its emptiness. In this sense, we can talk about failure.
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