OTTAWA — Officials say Finance Minister Bill Morneau will trumpet Canada’s firm belief in a rules-based, multilateral trading system when his G20 counterparts host Donald Trump’s new treasury secretary for the first time this weekend.
A senior Finance Department official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, said the uncertainty of U.S. financial policy under Donald Trump is set to dominate the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors.
Morneau expects to be a popular person when he meets his counterparts in the German city of Baden-Baden.
That’s because he’s already met some high-level Trump administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who will be making his G20 debut, officials say.
They say his fellow ministers and bank governors expect Morneau to shed light on some of the uncertainty about U.S. fiscal and trade policy that pervades the G20.
The finance ministers are helping to set the table for the July G20 leaders’ summit in Hamburg that Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are expected to attend.