A member of Russian President Vladimir Putin's cabinet has appealed to the White House to help save an international trade order that the senior official warns is at risk of collapse. The message comes as ministers from the world's top economies prepare to meet in Milwaukee on Wednesday ahead of a G20 leaders' summit scheduled for December at U.S. President Donald Trump's golf club in Miami.
But as the Trump administration extends a rare invite for Putin to attend the high-level gathering later this year, Russian Minister for Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov is calling for a major overhaul of the current G20 agenda proposed by the United States. The topics of discussion outlined by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer's office for the Milwaukee meeting include "eliminating forced labor in global supply chains, updating the Most-Favored Nation (MFN) principle, denouncing the weaponization of trade in food, and addressing structural excess capacity and production." Reshetnikov took issue with each of them.
Presidency, who were at the G20 origins, to bring the focus of our attention back to the key global issues are indeed valuable," Reshetnikov said in an article shared with Newsweek. "However, this raises a question: do all four topics put forward for discussion this year truly represent the most pressing challenges, the failure to address which poses a central threat to global trade?" Rather, the top Russian economic official said Moscow and other G20 members shared "the hope that the U.S. would revert to using its authority and power to tackle more urgent and significant issues of the multilateral trading system, than those on today’s G20 trade agenda—the restoration of effective and fair-trade governance, including the dispute settlement system, embodied in the WTO." On forced labor, the Trump administration introduced new tariffs in July targeting countries it said had not done enough to prevent imports of goods made by people forced to work against their will. The list included 37 countries—China and Russia, but also a number of U.S.-friendly countries, such as U.S. allies Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia—and Hong Kong, all of which were slapped with a 12.5 percent tariff rate for allegedly failing to implement restrictions on imports produced using forced labor.
Also targeted were 17 other nations, including Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom, assessed to maintain some, but insufficient laws against the practice. The European Union, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan were designated for additional tariffs to bring the rate to a cap of 10 or 12.5 percent. Reshetnikov acknowledged that "no one can deny the importance of joint international efforts to combat forced labor, its ramifications and root causes." At the same time, he argued that "this particular topic does not seem to contribute much to the restoration of the mutual trust, conducive and seamless environment for our businesses worldwide or elimination of unjustified trade barriers." "Hopefully, the existing trade disagreements would not taint what needs to be done to eradicate this heinous human rights violation," Reshetnikov said.
As for overcapacity, an issue the U.S. often raises in connection with China's large-scale production and exports of cheap, state-subsidized goods, Reshetnikov called the concept "rather debatable—a country possessing certain comparative advantages will produce more than it consumes and will, consequently, export the surplus." He said the question of "whether such an excess of production over domestic consumption stems from genuine competitive advantages or is the result of distortions of competition" was valid. But he also noted that many nations used state subsidies, including those "that traditionally profess their commitment to a market-based economic model." Moreover, he argued that a range of other measures create unfair advantages in the market. Some have been frequently wielded by the U.S.
"These include tariffs and various non-tariff restrictions that ensure demand for domestic suppliers," Reshetnikov said. "Export controls, restrictions on technology transfer, and the dominance of multinational corporations can lead to the monopolization of certain industries resulting in 'extreme' overcapacity. The benefits and protection granted domestically consequently transform into the advantages on foreign markets." Russia has been subject to heavy sanctions and other trade restrictions by the U.S. and European allies since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022.
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