In their recent communiqué, Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers admirably committed to using ‘all available tools for as long as required to address the adverse consequences of Covid-19’—in particular for those most affected.
Since the pandemic developed, governments around the world have taken extraordinary steps to support their economies, forcing the closure of ‘non-essential’ businesses, locking down borders and unleashing a wave of economic and health measures. While not all responses have been equally effective, one fundamental lesson has become clear: governments—particularly in wealthy countries—can marshal unprecedented interventions, at scale, when needed.
Eighteen months on though, critical weaknesses persist. Global vaccine inequity is perpetuating the pandemic. Economic instability and lack of fiscal space threaten another lost decade of development for many low- and middle-income countries. Despite escalating climate disasters, only 2 per cent of the total fiscal response to Covid-19 and the recovery from the ensuing economic crisis has gone into clean-energy measures. Progress on addressing the interlocking global crises of Covid-19, economic instability and climate change has effectively stalled.
Read more at
The G20, the private sector and the vaccine, debt and climate crises – Katie Gallogly-Swan and Rebecca Ray
Showing posts with label G20. Show all posts
Showing posts with label G20. Show all posts
Saturday, October 30, 2021
Saturday, February 6, 2021
EU taxation of multinationals—bypassing the unanimity blockage – by Tommaso Faccio and Francesco Saraceno
The French car-service company Heetch recently displayed an advertising campaign on the streets of Paris (see photo), which proudly affirmed its presence in many French cities but not in Luxembourg—a clear allusion to the tax headquarters of some of its competitors. The fact that ‘paying taxes in France’ has become a commercial argument shows that the issue of corporate avoidance is rising up the public agenda in many countries.
Yet the G20 process on taxing digital firms and introducing a global minimum tax to limit tax competition, led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, failed to reach consensus in 2020, mostly because of determination by the United States to protect its digital giants. The European Commission has made clear that, were the G20 to fail to deliver a global solution by mid-2021, it will act. But the EU is stuck between a rock—the US position will likely not change with the new administration—and a hard place: its own tax havens.
Read more at: EU taxation of multinationals—bypassing the unanimity blockage – Tommaso Faccio and Francesco Saraceno
Yet the G20 process on taxing digital firms and introducing a global minimum tax to limit tax competition, led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, failed to reach consensus in 2020, mostly because of determination by the United States to protect its digital giants. The European Commission has made clear that, were the G20 to fail to deliver a global solution by mid-2021, it will act. But the EU is stuck between a rock—the US position will likely not change with the new administration—and a hard place: its own tax havens.
Read more at: EU taxation of multinationals—bypassing the unanimity blockage – Tommaso Faccio and Francesco Saraceno
Saturday, December 1, 2018
G20: Compromise agreement on final statement
G20 agreement backs 'rules-based' order but bows to Trump on trade reforms
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/01/g20-leaders-donald-trump-rules-based-order-wto-reform?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogge
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/01/g20-leaders-donald-trump-rules-based-order-wto-reform?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogge
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
The Global Economy: The New World Order Is Leaving the U.S. Behind - by James Gibney
Of all the global consequences of President Donald Trump’s first
half-year, surely one of the most surprising is the rise in multilateral
diplomacy.
After all, this is the guy who came into office pledging to put America First. He downgraded the security guarantees of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to a definite maybe -- and only if its members ponied up more defense dollars. The Iran nuclear pact was “the worst deal ever,” and the Paris accord on climate change wasn’t much better. The Trans-Pacific Partnership was dead on arrival. Japan and South Korea’s free-riding days were over. The North American Free Trade Agreement was toast. The U.S. would ignore the rules of the World Trade Organization. And from its proposed cuts in foreign aid and United Nations peacekeeping to the empty offices and embassies of the State Department, the Trump administration has made clear how little it thinks of soft power and diplomacy.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the disintegration of the international liberal order. It’s started to reconstitute itself -- only not with the U.S. at its center. Unfortunately, that has less to do with a realization among our allies and partners that the burden must be more equitably shared than with the increasing recognition that Trump is not, as some U.S. diplomats liked to say about third world dictators during the Cold War, “someone we can do business with.”
That sentiment found its most trenchant expression in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s declaration, following Trump’s May trip to Europe, that the continent “must really take our fate into our own hands.” The net result of the Trump administration’s antipathy to free trade and cooperation on climate change and refugee resettlement was a united front against the U.S. at both the Group of Seven and Group of 20 meetings.
Jilted by the U.S., the other 11 members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership are moving ahead on their own. Canada and Mexico are working together more closely than ever to save Nafta. Asian nations are hedging their bets between the U.S. and China. Trump’s tough talk on Mexico has prompted it to reach out to its hemispheric rival Brazil on defense cooperation.
In conclusion: But even bilateral agreements require a degree of discipline and coordination that Trump has yet to display. For now, Trump’s reflexive trashing of President Barack Obama’s policy choices without offering any coherent alternatives has left the U.S. on awkward ground. It’s one thing for other countries to fill a diplomatic vacuum created by a gradual U.S. withdrawal; it’s another for them to do so in the wake of a scorched-earth retreat. If and when the U.S. recovers its strategic senses, it might find itself reduced to occupying a much less attractive seat at the multilateral table.
Read more: The New World Order Is Leaving the U.S. Behind - Bloomberg
After all, this is the guy who came into office pledging to put America First. He downgraded the security guarantees of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to a definite maybe -- and only if its members ponied up more defense dollars. The Iran nuclear pact was “the worst deal ever,” and the Paris accord on climate change wasn’t much better. The Trans-Pacific Partnership was dead on arrival. Japan and South Korea’s free-riding days were over. The North American Free Trade Agreement was toast. The U.S. would ignore the rules of the World Trade Organization. And from its proposed cuts in foreign aid and United Nations peacekeeping to the empty offices and embassies of the State Department, the Trump administration has made clear how little it thinks of soft power and diplomacy.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the disintegration of the international liberal order. It’s started to reconstitute itself -- only not with the U.S. at its center. Unfortunately, that has less to do with a realization among our allies and partners that the burden must be more equitably shared than with the increasing recognition that Trump is not, as some U.S. diplomats liked to say about third world dictators during the Cold War, “someone we can do business with.”
That sentiment found its most trenchant expression in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s declaration, following Trump’s May trip to Europe, that the continent “must really take our fate into our own hands.” The net result of the Trump administration’s antipathy to free trade and cooperation on climate change and refugee resettlement was a united front against the U.S. at both the Group of Seven and Group of 20 meetings.
Jilted by the U.S., the other 11 members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership are moving ahead on their own. Canada and Mexico are working together more closely than ever to save Nafta. Asian nations are hedging their bets between the U.S. and China. Trump’s tough talk on Mexico has prompted it to reach out to its hemispheric rival Brazil on defense cooperation.
In conclusion: But even bilateral agreements require a degree of discipline and coordination that Trump has yet to display. For now, Trump’s reflexive trashing of President Barack Obama’s policy choices without offering any coherent alternatives has left the U.S. on awkward ground. It’s one thing for other countries to fill a diplomatic vacuum created by a gradual U.S. withdrawal; it’s another for them to do so in the wake of a scorched-earth retreat. If and when the U.S. recovers its strategic senses, it might find itself reduced to occupying a much less attractive seat at the multilateral table.
Read more: The New World Order Is Leaving the U.S. Behind - Bloomberg
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Down Under Looks At Trump: Aussie journalist Chris Uhlmann's brutal take on Trump goes viral
Australian journalist Chris Uhlmann’s brutal dismissal of US
President Donald Trump as having “pressed fast forward on the decline of
the United States as a global leader” has attracted tens of thousands
of hits worldwide.
In a scathing piece-to-camera, the ABC’s political editor said Mr Trump struck an “uneasy, lonely, awkward” figure at the G20 global summit, where he showed “no desire and no capacity” to lead the world.
The US President merely “craves power as it burnishes his celebrity”, Mr Uhlmann said.
In his observations from Germany, the Australian journalist said there was the “strong sense” that some world leaders were “trying to find the best way to work around” Mr Trump.
“He managed to isolate his nation, to confuse and alienate his allies and to diminish America – he will cede that power to China and Russia.
“Some will cheer the decline of America. But I think we’ll miss it when it’s gone.
“And that’s the biggest threat to the values of the West which he claims to hold so dear.”
Read more: Aussie journalist Chris Uhlmann's brutal take on Trump goes viral
In a scathing piece-to-camera, the ABC’s political editor said Mr Trump struck an “uneasy, lonely, awkward” figure at the G20 global summit, where he showed “no desire and no capacity” to lead the world.
The US President merely “craves power as it burnishes his celebrity”, Mr Uhlmann said.
In his observations from Germany, the Australian journalist said there was the “strong sense” that some world leaders were “trying to find the best way to work around” Mr Trump.
“He managed to isolate his nation, to confuse and alienate his allies and to diminish America – he will cede that power to China and Russia.
“Some will cheer the decline of America. But I think we’ll miss it when it’s gone.
“And that’s the biggest threat to the values of the West which he claims to hold so dear.”
Read more: Aussie journalist Chris Uhlmann's brutal take on Trump goes viral
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Germany - G20 meeting: Merkel Signals She’ll Snub Trump’s Demand to Spend More on Defense - by Arne Delfs
Chancellor Angela Merkel signaled that Germany will refuse U.S.
demands to bring forward planned increases in defense spending, saying
that extra outlays are already being made.
President Donald Trump, who has said that Germany “owes vast sums of money” to NATO, is due to travel to Europe later this month for a meeting in Brussels of North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders, including the German chancellor.
Merkel, speaking in Berlin on Thursday after talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the goals of the May 25 meeting, said the German government was committed to raising spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2024 “and is working on it.”
“In past years we have shown that we have made increases, so I see no need for further provisions on May 25,” the chancellor said.
Germany increased its defense budget by 8 percent this year to about 37 billion euros ($40.1 billion), though it still falls far short of the 2 percent of GDP target. Merkel also argues that development aid should be taken into account as a security component.
In a tweet sent a day after hosting Merkel at the White House, Trump said the U.S. “must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!”
Note EU-Digest: this is another indication that Europe needs its own defense force with a different mandate and budget than that of the NATO. Europe should also not get involved in sending additional European Troops (as part of NATO) into the Afganistan "swamp", and a war there that has now been going on for 15 years - as is presently being discussed in the Pentagon.
Read more: Merkel Signals She’ll Snub Trump’s Demand to Spend More on Defense - Bloomberg
President Donald Trump, who has said that Germany “owes vast sums of money” to NATO, is due to travel to Europe later this month for a meeting in Brussels of North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders, including the German chancellor.
Merkel, speaking in Berlin on Thursday after talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the goals of the May 25 meeting, said the German government was committed to raising spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2024 “and is working on it.”
“In past years we have shown that we have made increases, so I see no need for further provisions on May 25,” the chancellor said.
Germany increased its defense budget by 8 percent this year to about 37 billion euros ($40.1 billion), though it still falls far short of the 2 percent of GDP target. Merkel also argues that development aid should be taken into account as a security component.
In a tweet sent a day after hosting Merkel at the White House, Trump said the U.S. “must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!”
Note EU-Digest: this is another indication that Europe needs its own defense force with a different mandate and budget than that of the NATO. Europe should also not get involved in sending additional European Troops (as part of NATO) into the Afganistan "swamp", and a war there that has now been going on for 15 years - as is presently being discussed in the Pentagon.
Read more: Merkel Signals She’ll Snub Trump’s Demand to Spend More on Defense - Bloomberg
Friday, April 21, 2017
Earth Day: April 22: The G20’s Time for Climate Leadership, as Trump Adm. ready to block project - by Teresa Ribera
 |
| Global Warming Disaster:The question is not if but when |
But at Merkel and Trump’s first in-person meeting, no substantive statements were issued, and their body language made the prospect of future dialogue appear dim. Trump’s slogan “America first” seems to mean “America alone.”
By reversing his predecessor’s policies to reduce CO2 emissions, Trump is rolling back the new model of cooperative global governance embodied in the 2015 Paris climate agreement. The countries that signed on to that accord committed themselves to sharing the risks and benefits of a global economic and technological transformation.
Trump’s climate-change policy does not bode well for US citizens – many of whom are now mobilizing resistance to his administration – or the world. But the rest of the world will still develop low-carbon, resilient systems. Private- and public-sector players across the developed and developing worlds are making the coming economic shift all but inevitable, and their agendas will not change simply because the US has a capricious new administration. China, India, the European Union, and many African and Latin American countries are still adopting clean-energy systems.
As long as this is the case, businesses, local governments, and other stakeholders will continue to pursue low-carbon strategies. To be sure, Trump’s policies might introduce new dangers and costs, domestically and worldwide; but he will not succeed in prolonging the fossil-fuel era.
Still, an effective US exit from the Paris agreement is a menacing development. The absence of such an important player from the fight against climate change could undermine new forms of multilateralism, even if it reinvigorates climate activism as global public opinion turns against the US.
More immediately, the Trump administration has introduced significant financial risks that could impede efforts to address climate change. Trump’s proposed budget would place restrictions on federal funding for clean-energy development and climate research. Likewise, his recent executive orders will minimize the financial costs of US businesses’ carbon footprint, by changing how the “social cost of carbon” is calculated. And his administration has already insisted that language about climate change be omitted from a joint statement issued by G20 finance ministers.
These are all unwise decisions that pose serious risks to the US economy, and to global stability, as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres recently pointed out. The US financial system plays a leading role in the world economy, and Trump wants to take us all back to a time when investors and the general public did not account for climate-change risks when making financial decisions.
Since 2008, the regulatory approach taken by the US and the G20 has been geared toward increasing transparency and improving our understanding of possible systemic risks to the global financial system, not least those associated with climate change and fossil-fuel dependency. Developing more stringent transparency rules and better risk-assessment tools has been a top priority for the financial community itself. Implementing these new rules and tools can accelerate the overall trend in divestment from fossil fuels, ensure a smooth transition to a more resilient, clean-energy economy, and provide confidence and clarity for long-term investors.
Given the heightened financial risks associated with climate change, resisting Trump’s executive order to roll back Wall Street transparency regulations should be a top priority. The fact that Warren Buffet and the asset-management firm Black Rock have warned about the investment risks of climate change suggests that the battle is not yet lost.
Creating the G20 was a good idea. Now, it must confront its biggest challenge. It is up to Merkel and other G20 leaders to overcome US (and Saudi) resistance and stay the course on climate action. They can count as allies some of the world’s large institutional investors, who seem to agree on the need for a transitional framework of self-regulation. It is incumbent upon other world leaders to devise a coherent response to Trump, and to continue establishing a new development paradigm that is compatible across different financial systems.
At the same time, the EU – which is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome this year – now has a chance to think about the future that it wants to build. These are difficult times, to be sure; but we can still decide what kind of world we want to live in.
Note EU-Digest: the EU needs to take its own independent and united position on this issue. Compromise should not be part of the equation. In addition, it has become extremely difficult for any country to negotiate with the Trump Administration on just about any issue, given they change their position more often than the Kama Sutra.
Read more: The G20’s Time for Climate Leadership by Teresa Ribera - Project Syndicate
Monday, August 29, 2016
G20 : Is the West ganging up against China?
China Wants a Successful G20 But Suspects the West May Derail Its Agenda
http://flip.it/1D0TuW
Thursday, July 21, 2016
China-G20 - US warns against devaluation ahead of G20 finance meeting
US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew on Thursday said top economies should
refrain from competitive currency devaluations -- a message likely
directed at China, which hosts a G20 finance ministers meeting this
weekend.
"The global outlook... underscores our focus on the commitment made at the last G20 in Shanghai to consult closely with one another on exchange rate policy, and to refrain from competitive devaluation," Lew said during a visit to Athens.
Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the so-called Group of 20, which brings together the biggest industrialised and emerging economies, are scheduled to meet in China on Saturday and Sunday.
"We have seen progress in this regard since the last G20 meeting, and we will continue to encourage the use of the full range of policy tools to promote shared, sustainable growth," he said.
Beijing rattled global investors with a surprise devaluation last August, when it guided the normally stable yuan down nearly five percent over a week, in a move largely perceived by analysts as an attempt to boost exports as economic growth slowed.
The talks this weekend will also likely be dominated by Britain's shock decision to leave the European Union in a referendum last month.
On Greece, which is hoping to exit recession this year after a seventh year of austerity cuts, Lew noted that investors were unlikely to return without "long-term clarity" on the prospects for the recovery of the Greek economy.
A failure to confront the subject of debt relief for Greece has clouded the perspectives for its economic recovery.
"The challenge is to get the trajectory onto a path where...it's clear that Greece can sustain its debt. To the investor world, the notion that it's okay now but it may not be okay in the future is not a good signal," the US secretary said.
Among the organisations managing Greece's recovery, the International Monetary Fund has said it won't give a penny to Greece's latest bailout -- the third since 2010 -- until it sees a concrete plan from the Europeans to substantially cut the country's massive debt burden.
Read more: Flash - US warns against devaluation ahead of G20 finance meeting - France 24
"The global outlook... underscores our focus on the commitment made at the last G20 in Shanghai to consult closely with one another on exchange rate policy, and to refrain from competitive devaluation," Lew said during a visit to Athens.
Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the so-called Group of 20, which brings together the biggest industrialised and emerging economies, are scheduled to meet in China on Saturday and Sunday.
"We have seen progress in this regard since the last G20 meeting, and we will continue to encourage the use of the full range of policy tools to promote shared, sustainable growth," he said.
Beijing rattled global investors with a surprise devaluation last August, when it guided the normally stable yuan down nearly five percent over a week, in a move largely perceived by analysts as an attempt to boost exports as economic growth slowed.
The talks this weekend will also likely be dominated by Britain's shock decision to leave the European Union in a referendum last month.
On Greece, which is hoping to exit recession this year after a seventh year of austerity cuts, Lew noted that investors were unlikely to return without "long-term clarity" on the prospects for the recovery of the Greek economy.
A failure to confront the subject of debt relief for Greece has clouded the perspectives for its economic recovery.
"The challenge is to get the trajectory onto a path where...it's clear that Greece can sustain its debt. To the investor world, the notion that it's okay now but it may not be okay in the future is not a good signal," the US secretary said.
Among the organisations managing Greece's recovery, the International Monetary Fund has said it won't give a penny to Greece's latest bailout -- the third since 2010 -- until it sees a concrete plan from the Europeans to substantially cut the country's massive debt burden.
Read more: Flash - US warns against devaluation ahead of G20 finance meeting - France 24
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Global Trade: World trade records biggest reversal since crisis - by Shawn Donnan and Joe Leahy
Weaker demand from emerging markets made 2015 the worst year for world trade since the aftermath of the global financial crisis, highlighting rising fears about the health of the global economy.
The value of goods that crossed international borders last year fell 13.8 per cent in dollar terms — the first contraction since 2009 — according to the Netherlands Bureau of Economic Policy Analysis’s World Trade Monitor. Much of the slump was due to a slowdown in China and other emerging economies.
The new data released on Thursday represent the first snapshot of global trade for 2015. But the figures also come amid growing concerns that 2016 is already shaping up to be more fraught with dangers for the global economy than previously expected.
Those concerns are casting a shadow over a two-day meeting of G20 central bank governors and finance ministers due to start on Friday. Mark Carney, the Bank of England governor, was set to warn the gathering that the global economy risked “becoming trapped in a low growth, low inflation, low interest rate equilibrium”.
His comments will echo the International Monetary Fund, which this week warned it was poised to downgrade its forecast for global growth this year, saying the world’s leading economies needed to do more to boost growth.
The Baltic Dry index, a measure of global trade in bulk commodities, has been touching historic lows. China, which in 2014 overtook the US as the world’s biggest trading nation, this month reported double-digit falls in both exports and imports in January. In Brazil, which is now experiencing its worst recession in more than a century, imports from China have collapsed.
Exports from China to Brazil of everything from cars to textiles shipped in containers fell 60 per cent in January from a year earlier while the total volume of imports via containers into Latin America’s biggest economy halved, according to Maersk Line, the world’s largest shipping company.
“What we are seeing right now from China is not only a phenomenon for Brazil; we are seeing the same all over Latin America, declining [Chinese export] volumes into all the markets,” said Antonio Dominguez, managing director for Maersk Line in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. “It has been going on for several quarters but is getting more evident as we move into the year [2016].”
Read more: World trade records biggest reversal since crisis - FT.com
The value of goods that crossed international borders last year fell 13.8 per cent in dollar terms — the first contraction since 2009 — according to the Netherlands Bureau of Economic Policy Analysis’s World Trade Monitor. Much of the slump was due to a slowdown in China and other emerging economies.
The new data released on Thursday represent the first snapshot of global trade for 2015. But the figures also come amid growing concerns that 2016 is already shaping up to be more fraught with dangers for the global economy than previously expected.
Those concerns are casting a shadow over a two-day meeting of G20 central bank governors and finance ministers due to start on Friday. Mark Carney, the Bank of England governor, was set to warn the gathering that the global economy risked “becoming trapped in a low growth, low inflation, low interest rate equilibrium”.
His comments will echo the International Monetary Fund, which this week warned it was poised to downgrade its forecast for global growth this year, saying the world’s leading economies needed to do more to boost growth.
The Baltic Dry index, a measure of global trade in bulk commodities, has been touching historic lows. China, which in 2014 overtook the US as the world’s biggest trading nation, this month reported double-digit falls in both exports and imports in January. In Brazil, which is now experiencing its worst recession in more than a century, imports from China have collapsed.
Exports from China to Brazil of everything from cars to textiles shipped in containers fell 60 per cent in January from a year earlier while the total volume of imports via containers into Latin America’s biggest economy halved, according to Maersk Line, the world’s largest shipping company.
“What we are seeing right now from China is not only a phenomenon for Brazil; we are seeing the same all over Latin America, declining [Chinese export] volumes into all the markets,” said Antonio Dominguez, managing director for Maersk Line in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. “It has been going on for several quarters but is getting more evident as we move into the year [2016].”
Read more: World trade records biggest reversal since crisis - FT.com
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