Bessent Skips the G20 Meeting His Own Country Chairs
Finance ministers and central bank governors gather in Bangkok today, alongside the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The American treasury secretary is not attending despite the United States holding the chair, with officials citing domestic engagements; two deputies will represent Washington. The economic damage from the war on Iran is expected to dominate.
The group accounts for about 85% of the world economy and three-quarters of its trade, and it is not working well. At the last meeting of finance ministers, in Asheville in North Carolina at the start of September, members could not agree a joint statement because China objected to the language on trade. Mr Bessent has sent a written statement instead of coming, pressing the Fund to strengthen its work on “the role non-market policies and practices and exchange rates play in driving external imbalances” — which is about China, whose cumulative trade surplus reached $938bn in September. Jim Chalmers, Australia’s treasurer, framed the other half of the agenda: he would call for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz “because that’s what the global economy desperately needs”. Crude has been above $100 a barrel for much of the past eight months. Kristalina Georgieva warned on Wednesday that there is no “magic” formula letting governments avoid tax rises or spending cuts, with debt above 100% of national income in the United States, Canada, Japan, Italy and France. The British chancellor is there. Leaders meet in Miami in December.