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SEOUL, South Korea ― The Group of 20 major economies took initial steps to address imbalances in the global economy on Friday. But they did not act as assertively as President Obama had hoped, and he left little doubt that he considered one country,Rondo Green Jersey, China,Anthony Blue NBA Jersey, the primary source of the problem.
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President Obama took questions during a news conference at the end of the summit.
Backstory: Sheryl Gay Stolberg discusses the stalled free trade deal between the U.S. and South Korea.
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Scrapping a longtime practice of speaking with diplomatic caution about China’s currency policy,Bryant Orange New Jersey, Mr. Obama accused Beijing of intervening aggressively to keep its currency, the renminbi, below its market value to promote exports. He said it was a mistake for nations to think that “their path to prosperity is paved simply with exports to the United States.”
“Precisely because of China’s success, it’s very important that it act in a responsible fashion internationally,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference at the conclusion of the economic summit meeting here. “And the issue of the renminbi is one that is an irritant not just to the United States, but is an irritant to a lot of China’s trading partners and those who are competing with China to sell goods around the world.”
Though his own Treasury Department, like those of prior administrations, has certified that China is not a “currency manipulator,” a designation that can prompt Congressional trade action,Bryant Black Jersey, Mr. Obama appeared to remove the remaining wiggle room he had on the subject of the renminbi, declaring: “It is undervalued. And China spends enormous amounts of money intervening in the market to keep it undervalued.”
The tougher language seems likely to add tension with China, which has already sharply criticized the Obama administration’s decision to try to mediate territorial disputes involving China and its East and Southeast Asian neighbors.
But Mr. Obama’s efforts to persuade China to act on its own, or as part of a collective commitment by big economies to address trade imbalances, have yielded only incremental steps, raising the possibility of a contentious and awkward prelude to a state visit to Washington by President Hu Jintao of China scheduled for January.
Under heavy American pressure, the leaders of the Group of 20 economies did agree Friday to curb “persistently large imbalances” in trade,Kobe Bryant Basketball Jersey, as well as saving and spending, that officials believe pose risks to global growth. The group’s communiqué reflected an emerging consensus that longstanding economic patterns ― in particular, the United States’ consuming too much and big exporters like China and Germany consuming too little ― were no longer sustainable.
But the uneasy compromise fell short of initial American demands for numerical targets on trade surpluses and deficits, and left most of the work to monitor and address such imbalances for future meetings. “Instead of hitting home runs, sometimes we’re going to hit singles,” Mr. Obama said. “But they’re really important singles.”
Mr. Obama acknowledged that the agreement “doesn’t provide an enforcement mechanism,Jordan Black Strip Jersey,” but said it “does give the international community the ability to monitor and see exactly what countries are doing” and “gives a mechanism to apply at least some peer pressure” on countries treating their trading partners unfairly.
The cautious approach reflected,Kobe Bryant Purple Jersey, according to several officials from the Group of 20 powers, the concerns of China, which resisted setting any kind of timetable for currency appreciation, and Germany, which insisted that the problem involved fiscal,Paul Pierce Green Finals NBA Jersey, monetary and other policies, not just trade.
The leaders did,James White Jersey, however, agree to “move toward market-determined exchange-rate systems,” to avoid trade and currency wars and to coordinate their policies.
Mr. Hu said that the Chinese economy would shift toward domestic consumption and that the government would make it a priority to increase domestic demand, as the United States and many economists have urged.
Mr. Obama said that China’s shift toward higher consumption and a stronger currency would occur “in a gradual fashion.” He said he hoped that Mr. Hu’s visit to Washington in January would yield additional progress.
The declaration the Group of 20 leaders agreed upon was largely based on an agreement that finance ministers, including Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, hammered out last month at a meeting in Kyongju, South Korea. But it added a timetable.
The finance ministers are to agree by next June on “indicative guidelines” for “timely identification” of big,Bryant Purple Jersey, enduring imbalances that “require preventive and corrective actions to be taken.”
Using those guidelines, the International Monetary Fund will then conduct an analysis of the causes and consequences of the imbalances by the next Group of 20 leaders’ meeting, to be held in France late next year.