EU, IMF Warn of U.S. Protectionism, Back Multilateral Trade

Date: 12 June 2018 - 21:32

News ID: ۵۳۹۱۳

BERLIN (AP) — Leaders of the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization and other agencies have warned that American protectionism could cause global economic damage, while the European Union backed a Group of Seven declaration that U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly refused to join.
At a meeting in Berlin hosted by Chancellor Angela Merkel, the German leader and top officials from a half-dozen international organizations said in a joint statement that the "increasing protectionist tendencies provide us with a clear incentive and opportunity to express our strong support for the multilateral trading system.”
Merkel, fresh from the G-7 meeting in Canada, said those at the meeting were "firmly convinced that sustainable world economic development can only be achieved in cooperation and through win-win situations.”
She said with the Trump administration’s decision to implement new tariffs on aluminum and steel imports to the United States, "multilateralism right now is in a complicated and difficult phase.”
The meeting included the heads of the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the African Development Bank, the International Labor Organization, and a top World Bank official.
IMF head Christine Lagarde told reporters the global economy was in good shape, saying "the sun is still shining” but that it’s "getting darker by the day.”
Following the G-7 summit meeting over the weekend, Trump at first agreed to join a statement on trade the leaders issued. The U.S. president withdrew from it later, complaining he’d been blindsided by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s criticism of his tariff threats during a summit-ending news conference.
****************Back ground from left: Kristalina Georgieva, CEO of the World Bank, Guy Ryder, Director General of the International Labour Organisation, ILO, Angel Gurria, Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, IWF, Roberto Carvalho de Azevedo, Director-General of the World Trade Organization, WTO, and Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, AfDB, attend a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center front, at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday June 11, 2018.