U.S., Europe at Odds Over Economic Imbalances as G-8 Meets
June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Group of Eight finance ministers gather today in St. Petersburg amid bickering over who should take the next step to cut a record U.S. current account deficit.Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker, who is also the country's prime minister and chairs a group of finance ministers from the dozen nations that share the euro, said June 6 that as his region is not ``at the origin of the global imbalances it's not up to us to take any initiative.'' U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said last month he ``rejects'' that position.
The quarrel undermines a pledge by the world's richest nations to form a coordinated approach to the so-called global imbalances, reflected by the U.S.'s $805 billion current-account shortfall, said Brad Setser, head of economic research at Roubini Global Economics in New York. The ministers who are meeting today and tomorrow promised ``vigorous'' action when they last gathered two months ago in Washington.
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