Cameron: World Must Tackle Trade Imbalances
The Guardian reports:
World leaders must resolve the trade imbalances that are destabilising the global economy or risk a repeat of the Great Depression, David Cameron warned today.
Speaking at the start of the G20 Summit in Seoul, the prime minister said the real test for the summit would be its ability sort out the big battle between the indebted west and the surplus economies of the east.
"The fear we should all have is a return to what happened in the 30s: protectionism, trade barriers, currency wars, countries pursuing beggar my neighbour policies – trying to do well for themselves but not caring about the rest of the world. That is the danger," Cameron said.
"Now on the big battle, the biggest issue of all is the cause of the last crisis – a wall of money in the east, a wall of debt in the west. We've got to deal with that imbalance and I think it's a real test for this summit and one that Britain will play a very positive part in trying to make sure we really look at these imbalances and deal with them."
The G20 summit is being dominated by concerns that currency wars will break out between the world's largest economies. America is demanding that China allows its currency to appreciate, while the Chinese insist that any such move will create mass joblessness in China and so dampen worldwide growth.
