Timothy Geithner, US Treasury Secretary, said world leaders had reached consensus on an “early warning mechanism” to police excessive trade deficits and surpluses at Thursday’s Group of 20 meeting in Seoul.
The US has proposed that the International Monetary Fund implement guidelines to monitor current account imbalances and co-ordinate responses to reduce them.
Mr Geithner stressed that China had joined the consensus among other Asian nations despite criticism from Beijing that the proposals were a return to “planned economies”. He warned that unilateral action by individual countries could destabilise the global economy and stifle growth.