The G7 meeting comes against a background of rising economic nationalism and growing worries about internationally uncoordinated bank rescue and fiscal stimulus plans, despite leaders using the rhetoric of cross-border co-operation.
Non-US officials are anxious to learn more about the new US financial rescue plan – which rejected the insurance-based approach adopted by the UK weeks before, much to the surprise of British officials.
A senior US official told the Financial Times that insurance could land a government with “risks it cannot price and cannot manage” and create the impression that policymakers were “trying to avoid dealing with the reality of the situation”.