Mr. Obama highlighted the need to use all available tools to tackle unemployment but also, lift wages. He referred to both TTP and TTIP treaties, which after the Greenpeace leaks of the negotiations between the American side and the European Commission have been held up.
A transcript of President Obama’s comments follows:
One of the benefits of the G7 is that you have like-minded countries who are committed to democracy, and free markets and international law, and international norms.
So far we have discussed issues of the global economy and the need to continue to accelerate growth. To use all the tools at our disposal to ensure that we are not only putting people back to work but also helping to lift wages and helping to make sure we can maintain the momentum of the recovery that’s taking place in the United States most prominently but also we are starting to see some progress in Europe. The fact that the Greek debt crisis has been resolved for a reasonable length of time, should help, but we have all got a lot of work to do.
We had a chance to talk about trade, not only TTP but also TTIP and we recommitted ourselves to try to finish those negotiations before the end of year. And emphasized the importance of pushing back against either protectionism or competitive currency devaluations or the kinds of beggar-thy-neighbor strategies that all to often lead to everyone being worse off.