G20 Finance: the commercial armor continues, the EU wants to build bridges

Buenos Aires – The trade war between the great powers lasted this weekend at the G20 Finance in Buenos Aires: while the IMF and the EU fear that it affects global growth, France called for the reason the United States, which remains inflexible.
  

After the steel and aluminum tariffs aimed primarily at China, which set fire to the dust, the United States threatens to overtax European car imports, to punish the countries that trade with China. Iran, while promising to drastically limit their purchases of Chinese products.

On Saturday in Buenos Aires, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin ratified this controversial policy, criticized even by US allies, at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is due to go to Washington Wednesday with Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom for talks, but no question for Europeans to accept the US trade dictate.

– The EU wants a status of ally –

" We refuse to negotiate with a gun on the temple.It is in the United States to take a step to start a de-escalation, and arrange all this "said the French Minister of the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, on Saturday.

The day before, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had badured that The European Union was " ready " to respond to a possible revival by Washington of its taxes on imports of European automobiles.

European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Pierre Moscovici stressed on Sunday that the European countries " wanted to occupy an ally status, not an enemy but an ally ", purposely repeating the word used by President Donald Trump, who on Friday called the Europeans " enemies " by criticizing their monetary policy and after threatening to overtax European products.

" The European Union is certainly not responsible for the main trade imbalances, we target is certainly inappropriate ," said the European Commissioner, while a journalist asked him if Europe was victim of collateral damage in the trade war between the United States and China.

" We are trying to build bridges ," continued the European Commissioner.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde has estimated that the trade war that has raged in recent months could reduce global growth " by 0.5 point ".

– Cavalier Alone –

Representative of the world's leading power, Steven Mnuchin monopolized the attention. He called on China and the European Union to make concessions to achieve a more balanced trade relationship, after the startling statements of Donald Trump who called " enemies " commercial Beijing, Brussels and Moscow .

Faced with China, the United States has a trade deficit of 376 billion USD in 2017 and intends to reduce it. The Trump administration has threatened to impose punitive taxes on all Chinese imports, which amounted to 500 billion dollars in 2017.

Beijing accuses Washington of wanting to trigger " the worst trade war in economic history "and reacted by imposing new taxes on US products.

In the United States alone, most other countries are the apostles of multilateralism.

For Brazilian Minister of the Economy Eduardo Guardia, " all that goes against free trade, a rules-based trade, must be resolved through international organizations, able to resolve this type of conflict ".

" World trade can not be based on the law of the jungle, unilateral tariff increase is the law of the strongest, it can not be the future of trade relations in the world. world ", joined the French minister.

– Opportunity for the EU –

For him, Europe has a card to play in this context, and must take advantage of its economic power. " United," he says, "it can make a difference." We are not condemned to be crushed between a China that is gaining strength and the United States that has decided to enter into a power struggle with all the other states of the planet ".

Europe hopes to be spared from surcharges on steel and aluminum.

The parties have stuck to their positions and the final communiqué of the G20 Finance released Sunday after the close of the debate should reflect this status quo.

According to a source close to the talks, the statement should be limited to mentioning the risk to global growth posed by trade tensions, the commitment to work on the taxation of digital commerce and the management of crypto badets.