BADEN BADEN, Germany, March 18 — The world’s financial leaders failed to reach a compromise deal to endorse free trade today, backtracking on past commitments to keep trade open and reject protectionism, the communique of G20 finance ministers and central bankers showed.
Making only a token reference for the need to strengthen the contribution of trade to the economy, finance ministers and central bank chiefs of the world’s top 20 economies broke with a decade-old tradition of rejecting protectionism and endorsing open trade.
In the new US administration’s biggest clash yet with the international community, G20 finance chiefs also walked back on a pledge to support climate change finance, an anticipated outcome after US President Donald Trump called climate change a “hoax”.
Speaking on the side-lines of the meeting, delegates said that the US was holding out on key issues, unwilling to compromise and essentially torpedoing a deal as it requires all members to sign up.
Trump has already pulled out of a key trade agreement and proposed a new tax on imports arguing that certain trade relationships need to be reworked to make them fairer for US workers.
G20 financial leaders, however, reaffirmed their a commitment to refrain from competitive currency devaluation, a key agreement as the US has repeatedly complained that some of its trade partners are using artificially devalued currencies to gain a trade advantage. — Reuters
