Trade talks between the United States and the European Union have been "sensible" and don`t point to a trade war, Germany`s finance minister Olaf Scholz said on Friday.
Finance ministers and central bankers from across the world are arriving in Indonesian resort of Bali this week for the International Monetary Fund`s annual meetings.
The gathering comes amid an escalating trade dispute between the United States and China, financial jitters in some emerging economies and worries about Italy`s public finances.
Scholz struck a sanguine tone, however.
"There are very sensible and trustful talks between the EU and the U.S. that don`t point to an escalation of the trade conflict," he told reporters.
Sitting alongside Scholz, Germany`s central bank president Jens Weidmann said a recent slowdown in global growth was due to a "normalisation" from previous years` exuberance, rather than a consequence of trade tensions.
Turning to Italy, Scholz said he took Italian policymakers` pledge to respect EU budget rules "at face value" but sent a warning to the euro zone`s largest debtor.
"If anybody has to give advice to Italy it`s to be careful what it`s doing," he said.
(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
07:15 AM IST