Buenos Aires, Jul 22 (EFE).- US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said here Sunday during the G20’s Third Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors that the United States agreed on the importance of international trade, while insisting that trade must be “fair and reciprocal.”
“We support the idea that trade is important for the global economy, but it must be fair and reciprocal,” Mnuchin told a press conference after the summit’s last session.
Mnuchin claimed that discussions among the finance ministers during the G20 summit “absolutely” did not center on protectionist policies established by the United States.
The Treasury Secretary seemed to contradict the warnings about protectionist policies made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), saying that the US did not visualize any significant impact on the economy, although he added that his government was “monitoring” the situation.
Mnuchin rejected the significance of the trade tariffs that the US government has imposed, saying that the measures were “very specific.”
The Treasury Secretary also defended his government’s decision to impose tariffs, pointing to his country’s “great trade deficit” with many nations, which did not happen “from one day to the next.”
Mnuchin said that fair trade not only referred to tariffs, but also to subsidies and other trade barriers established by many nations, which, according to the Treasury Secretary, have affected US exports.
Regarding the Summit’s final communique, in which the G20 reiterated the importance of trade, calling on member states to “step up dialogue” to resolve trade disputes, Mnuchin said that it was the easiest G20 communique he had negotiated since he became Treasury Secretary in Feb. 2017.
Mnuchin said that he did not feel isolated during the summit, recalling the 22 bilateral meetings he had attended with various delegations.
One of his meetings was with Argentine President Mauricio Macri, during which Mnuchin gave his “full support” to the president’s economic policies and his loan agreement with the IMF.