Germany's Scholz Says Keep Talking to Help Avert Trade War

(Bloomberg) -- German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said one of the ingredients for avoiding a trade war is to ensure that all sides don’t stop talking to each other.

Scholz said he had exchanged views with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and sought to find out what the motivations for U.S. threats on trade tariffs are. The talks dominated his first trip to a Group of 20 meeting as finance chief of Europe’s largest economy.

“We’re in discussions and this is the basis for hoping that in the end these talks will also lead to us securing the foundations of world trade and the open exchange of goods and services also in the future,” Scholz said shortly before his return to Germany. “I’m glad there are talks.”

Scholz’ efforts in Buenos Aires are part of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s push to thwart a trade war with the U.S. Economy Minister Peter Altmaier, one of her closest allies, traveled to Washington for talks on Sunday and met with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. In a joint statement, the officials pledged to work toward relaxing trade tensions and continue discussions.

In a draft of the G-20 communique obtained by Bloomberg News, policy makers repeated a pledge to refrain from unfair trade practices and warned that the global economic expansion would be thrown into jeopardy if governments turn inward.

“We must ensure that the world’s landscape is not now dominated by protectionism, but that these markets remain open,” said Scholz, who represented one of the world’s biggest exporters at the G-20 table. “The prosperity of all of us depends on it.”

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann told reporters that G-20 officials had discussed the risk of a trade war and what it would mean for the world economy’s expansion.

Any escalation “would only know losers in the end,” Weidmann said, adding that there was broad consensus that conflicts should be resolved within the framework of the existing, rules-based trade system.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rainer Buergin in Buenos Aires at rbuergin1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Andres R. Martinez

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