Japan: Global finance leaders meeting in Japan this weekend said they were increasingly worried that the trade dispute between the United States and China, which shows no signs of abating, could propel the world economy into a crisis.

The sense of gloom at the gathering of the Group of 20 major economies came amid increasing evidence that global economic growth is slowing amid President Trump’s renewed trade war with Beijing.

In a closing statement, or communiqué, officials at the G20 warned that trade tensions have “intensified” and agreed to address the risks.

But the Trump administration, intent on rewriting the rules of international commerce in America’s favour, gave no sign that it was ready to back down. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin continued to blame China for prolonging the fight and insisted that the trade dispute was not hurting America’s economy or hampering global growth.

“I don’t think the slowdowns you’re seeing in parts of the world are a result of trade tensions at the moment,” Mnuchin told reporters on the sidelines of the G20.

Trump is expected to meet President Xi Jinping of China in late June, an encounter that could determine whether the world’s two largest economies can resolve their dispute. Talks between the two countries fell apart last month, with Trump accusing China of reneging on a trade deal and China insisting that the US States was not negotiating in good faith.

India view

India has made a strong case for the adoption of a “significant economic presence” concept to taxing global digital companies and close co-operation among the G20 member nations to deal with fugitive economic offenders who flee their countries to escape consequences of law.

During the G-20 meeting, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman also pitched for the development of common measures to deal with non-compliant tax jurisdictions or nations which refuse to share tax related information.