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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The world's top financial officials made a call Tuesday for open trade and more dialogue at a time of growing criticism that tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump might trigger a global trade war.
G-20 finance ministers and central bankers gathered in Buenos Aires for a two-day summit on the week that Trump's tariffs — of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum imports — enter into force.
Spain's economy minister said that several countries attending the summit were critical of protectionist measures, while Argentina's treasury secretary said there is no vision that the world is nearing a trade war, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the tariffs were hardly an issue at the summit.
"Free and fair trade is something that we believe in. This is not about protectionism, but it's about fair and free reciprocal trade," Mnuchin said at a press conference.
"I had 15 meetings over the last two days, as well as sitting over the large meetings. Let me just comment that these tariffs were a very small part of the discussions."
The joint G-20 communique toned down a line against protectionism that had been agreed upon during the earlier summit in Hamburg, Germany. Instead, it said that "international trade and investment are important engines of growth, productivity, innovation, job creation and development." It also called for "further dialogue and actions" that can strengthen trade among the economies of the 20 leading industrial and developing countries.
Asked about Trump's tariffs earlier in the day, Spain's Economy Minister Roman Escolano said that most countries at the summit shared the "belief that protectionism is a huge historical mistake" and that the international community should resolve trade disputes using the World Trade Organization.
Trump has temporarily exempted big steel producers Canada and Mexico, provided they agree to a renegotiated North American trade deal to his satisfaction.
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday that the global economic recovery could be threatened by the tariffs and he asked Mnuchin at the summit to exempt the European Union from the tariffs as a whole. The EU has drawn up a list of "rebalancing" duties worth some 2.8 billion euros ($3.4 billion) to slap on U.S. products if it is not exempted.
"We think it is of the utmost importance to avoid any unilateral choice that might jeopardize growth, Le Maire said. "Unfair trade conditions, protectionism, might jeopardize the economic recovery all over the world."
EU leaders plan to discuss the tariffs on Thursday, hoping to avert a potential trade war while remaining determined to press on with free trade deals with the Mercosur countries of South America and Mexico.
"We fully acknowledge that it is a difficulty with steel over-capacity," Le Maire said. But we strongly believe that protectionism, measures on tariffs, are not the appropriate answer to that difficulty."
The summit in Buenos Aires is the first of five meetings by finance ministers and central bankers scheduled in advance of a main G-20 meeting in Argentina that will be held Nov. 30-Dec 1. Officials also discussed issues including infrastructure development and the technology behind cryptocurrencies.
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Associated Press writer Almudena Calatrava contributed to this report.
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