Rest of the world must stand together to prevent trade war

The world's major financial leaders rejected protectionism at their meeting in Argentina on Tuesday, but failed to exorcise the specter of the trade war being materialized by the protectionist moves of the United States.

With Washington threatening to take more unilateral actions after imposing restrictive tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum products, the finance ministers and central bankers of the world's 20 biggest economies only said they agreed to the declaration on trade from the 2017 Hamburg Summit and recognized the need for more "dialogue and actions" in their final communiqu é.

By avoiding direct wording in opposition to Washington's escalation of disruptive trade measures, the other G20 members showed they are yet to reach a consensus on to how to tackle the US' beggar-thy-neighbor moves.