ROME — The Group of Seven finance ministers pledged Saturday to avoid resorting to protectionism as they try to stimulate their own economies in the face of the world’s worst economic crisis since the 1930s.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner assured his counterparts that President Barack Obama’s $787 billion plan to resuscitate the economy, approved Friday, would not violate in any way the United States’ commitment to free trade.
The meeting’s host, Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, affirmed “strong agreement” among the ministers on rejecting protectionism. “It is a concrete danger, not only for economies that depend heavily on exports,” he said.
Even as gloomy economic news piled up — with Europe sinking deeper into recession and the G7 saying the crisis will continue through the end of the year — the ministers touted in their final statement “the exceptional measures” that had been “collectively taken.” The Associated Press
