First clash of G-20 sets the stage for battle of trade ideas

London

AS global finance chiefs return from their first collective engagement with the Trump administration, they're bringing home a load of unfinished business.

While the weekend meeting of the Group of 20 in the German spa town of Baden-Baden kept up its tradition of a communique to present a veneer of agreement, it only did so by papering over new cracks in the order underpinning the world economy. Barely hinting at the merits of free trade, the statement's omissions show how global economic diplomacy is now beset with a fault line that could overshadow it for months, if not years.