Data presented by Washington shows that China's massive export offensive is beginning to seriously destabilize the global economy.
The main point of the Paris discussions between the finance ministers of the richest countries in the world was a direct confrontation with Beijing's trade policy.
Scott Bessent said in an interview for Reuters that the group's discussion focused on the harmful effects of China's massive export offensive. The US Secretary of the Treasury referred to the latest economic analyzes published by the International Monetary Fund. They clearly show that the intense influx of cheap Chinese goods into international markets is drastically intensifying “global imbalances”.
The head of the US Department of the Treasury recalled that he had already repeatedly appealed to partners from Europe and Asia to take preventive actions. He pointed out that the lack of reaction will lead to a situation in which Western markets will be flooded with products from Asia, with particular emphasis on the modern technology and automotive sectors.
“Unfortunately I was right.” USA on customs barriers
The American administration has been consistently building systems to protect its own market for a long time, while warning other countries against passivity. Scott Bessent bluntly summed up the lack of decisiveness on the part of U.S. global partners so far:
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— I warned Europeans, Australians, British, Canadians and Japan that the US would introduce a tariff barrier and that all these high-end Chinese goods cannot be absorbed by the Global South and must go somewhere – he said. — And unfortunately I was right – he emphasized.
According to Washington, it is the lack of customs barriers in other parts of the world that causes the overproduction of Chinese technologically advanced goods, including electric cars, to ricochet into the economies of countries that have not decided to introduce appropriate customs protection.
Pressure to tighten sanctions against Iran
Trade issues with China were not the only key topic of the Paris summit. The US Treasury Secretary placed strong emphasis on the need to tighten the course towards Tehran. Before the official talks, Bessent announced on the X platform that G7 ministers were conducting “constructive talks”, especially on “terrorist threats from Iran and critical minerals”.
In the context of the economic sanctions imposed on Iran, the US representative pointed to specific expectations towards European and Asian partners. According to Bessent, European countries should take much more decisive steps to effectively close branches of Iranian banks operating in their territories. In turn, Asian countries were called on to immediately block the practice of circumventing the oil embargo. The idea is to prevent the so-called Iran's shadow fleet transfers sanctioned oil to tankers that are formally not covered by international restrictions.
