BEIJING, April 25 (Reuters) – China warned a G20 meeting that world economic growth was “insufficient” as tariff and trade wars exacerbated economic and financial instability and sapped growth momentum, its finance ministry and central bank said.
Speaking at the group’s meeting in Washington, Finance Minister Lan Foan called on all parties to strengthen multilateral cooperation, saying that China supported dialogue and consultation “on equal footing” to settle trade and tariff disputes.
Meanwhile, People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng said that economic fragmentation and trade tensions had disrupted supply chains, weakening the momentum of global economic growth, the central bank said in a separate readout on Friday.
Pan also told the meeting, which took place on Wednesday and Thursday, that the world’s major economies should strengthen their participation in international macroeconomic and financial policy coordination.
Other participants at the finance ministers and central bank governors meeting also flagged the significant increase in risks to global growth from trade tensions, tighter financing conditions and long-term structural challenges, according to the PBOC statement.
They also called for strengthening dialogue and policy coordination, the statement said without referring to the United States.
The Group of 20 major economies were meeting in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of hefty tariffs on imports that have triggered turmoil in financial markets and prompted the International Monetary Fund to cut its growth forecasts for most countries around the world.
While Trump later put some of the tariffs on hold, he raised China levies to 145%, and maintained a universal import tariff of 10% as well as 25% duties on cars, steel and aluminium.
The U.S. indicated talks were taking place with China on tariffs but Beijing on Thursday denied that, demanding the U.S. drop the levies.
Lan also urged for better implementation of the debt treatment mechanism under the G20’s Common Framework, and said all parties should pool more resources for Africa’s development and strengthen Africa’s capacity-building.
The finance ministry said Lan held bilateral meetings and exchanges with representatives from countries and organisations including South Africa, the European Commission, Pakistan, Germany, South Korea, Indonesia, Britain, Japan and the World Bank.
The meetings were mainly to discuss the macroeconomic situation, key issues of the G20 fiscal channels and bilateral cooperation, the readout said.
(Reporting by Liz Lee and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Shri Navaratnam and Kate Mayberry)
