The G20 Makes Progress

The recent G20 meetings in February and April have showed that the G20 works. The achievements are not dramatic, but the forward progress is visible, if at a measured pace. Last year, the US had been pressing for rebalancing—basically asking mostly China, but also other current account surplus countries, to adjust their macroeconomic policies to increase their domestic demands and reduce their relative export focus. Those countries argued that the US’s own macroeconomic policies—fiscal and monetary—needed to adjust drastically. Rather than drifting into confrontation and stalemate, this issue has been tackled relatively effectively by the G20.

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