Victory for Trump as the G20 DROPS its pledge to fight against economic protectionism at key summit in Germany Daily Mail/UK, Mar 19, 2017, Jordan Gass-Poore
The world's top economic powers dropped a long-standing endorsement of open trade amid pushback from the Trump administration.
Financial leaders from the G20 group of leading economies, including the US, China and Germany, held tough discussions in the German town of Baden-Baden.
After deliberating for two days, they issued a statement Saturday that contained only a bland reference to "working to strengthen the contribution of trade to our economies".
By comparison, last year's meeting called on them to resist "all forms" of protectionism, which can include border tariffs and rules that keep out imports to shield domestic companies from competition.
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US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, taking part in his first international meeting since being sworn in, sought to downplay the wording issue.
He said that the statement needed to reflect the discussion at the current summit.
'The historical language was not really relevant,' said Mnuchin.
'We believe in free trade: we are one of the largest markets in the world, we are one of the largest trading partners in the world.
'Having said that, we want to re-examine certain agreements ... And to the extent that agreements are old agreements and need to be renegotiated we'll consider that as well,' he said.
Mnuchin said trade deals need to offer a "win-win situation".
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