Pan joins annual meetings of IMF, World Bank talks in Washington with US, EU and G20 members
Published Thu, Apr 24, 2025 · 04:25 PM
[WASHINGTON] China’s central bank chief Pan Gongsheng urged countries to help maintain confidence in the global economic system on a trip to the US, reiterating Chinese opposition to tariffs as US President Donald Trump signals a shift towards de-escalating tensions.
“All parties should strengthen cooperation and make efforts to prevent the global economy from sliding into a track of ‘high friction, low trust,’” the People’s Bank of China governor said at a Group of 20 meeting in Washington on Wednesday (Apr 23), according to a social media post by state broadcaster China Central Television.
Pan is one of the leading members of a Chinese delegation attending the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank this week in the US capital, where discussions involving the US, EU and other G20 members are also taking place.
The events are expected to provide the first opportunity for Chinese economic officials to meet with Trump’s team in person since he drastically hiked tariffs on Chinese imports earlier this month, before any formal negotiations to cool trade tensions.
However, neither side has announced any bilateral meetings despite Trump’s move to soften his tone on tariffs that are expected to dent growth of the world’s second-largest economy. The US president said “everything’s active” on Wednesday when asked whether he was actively engaging with China and that the Asian country was “going to do fine” once talks had settled.
China has responded to Trump’s volatile tariff moves with caution, with Beijing at one point calling the high levels of levies “meaningless.” Chinese authorities have also warned other countries against striking deals with the US that could hurt its interests, an example of how trade frictions could undermine trust between nations.
There are “no winners in trade wars” and China will remain open to the outside world and firmly support free trade and the multilateral trading system, Pan said, according to the report. BLOOMBERG
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