Why the G20 was created

World Today

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After his state visit to Spain, Chinese President Xi Jinping will head to Argentina for the G20 Summit. The Group of 20 was formed to coordinate responses to economic turbulence.

Today, it’s striving to tackle a broad array of global challenges, including current trade tensions.

CGTN’s Daniel Ryntjes reports.

Globalization has in that sense been realized, at the speed of light. But we can all suffer the consequences when things go wrong.

A stock market crash in New York is felt in Frankfurt or Tokyo within the blink of an eye.

The G20 was formed in the 1990’s so that central bank governors and finance ministers could coordinate their response to global economic turbulence.

The group included emerging market nations like Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa and they played a crucial stabilizing role during and after the 2008 financial crisis which prompted the G20 to organize regular leadership summits.

In subsequent years, the G20 agenda has expanded to tackle areas like the environment, food security, and African development.

Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election of Donald Trump, the G20 has struggled to accommodate his emphasis on economic self-interest.

At this summit in Argentina, President Donald Trump is meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to try to resolve tensions that are disrupting global supply chains.

“At the G20 meeting in Argentina there will be talks between the two leaders and in their bilateral and whatever else, what other meetings trade will be included,” said Larry Kudlow, the Director of the National Economic Council.

Trump’s “America First” approach appears to be downplaying the importance of consensus and coordination inside the G20 meetings.

Instead, attention is being paid to trying to tackle challenges through bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit, clearly not what the G20 was designed to do.