Tough Sell

G-20 Leaders Agree to Address Currency

But discussion of specific rules ends in “acrimony.”

G-20 leaders may have to agree to disagree. Specifically, the trade guidelines pushed by the U.S., to limit national trade deficits to 4 percent in order to prevent “currency wars,” were blocked by China and Germany, the world’s two largest exporters. Instead, G-20 officials agreed to avoid “competitive devaluation” of currencies, and to work out specific guidelines to that end at a later date. Negotiations weren’t easy: Early this morning, the BBC quoted a U.K. source as saying that officials from the U.K., France, and Russia had to be called when “fractious” negotiations between China and the U.S broke down in “acrimony.” G-20 leaders did agree to reforms that would give emerging economies, such as China, more power in the International Monetary Fund, and U.K., France, and Germany discussed a new bail-out strategy for Ireland.