G7 officials worried about US policies

G7 finance officials have raised concerns about risks to global growth from the Trump administration’s policy proposals including tax reform, a senior US Treasury official said on Friday (May 12, 2017).

Finance ministers from the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Britain -- the Group of Seven (G7) -- are holding two days of talks on the global economy, taxation and terrorist financing in the southern Italian city of Bari, Reuters reported.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting, the official said the tax plan and US trade policies were part of discussions about risks to the global economy.

“Some countries have flagged risks along those lines as well as risks that US growth and strengthening US growth will lead to more investment, which could have an impact on exchange rates and could have an impact on the Fed’s policy going forward,” the official said.

“That’s in a positive context, but it could have spillovers to the rest of the world, in terms of both positive and negative,” the official said.