Obama: World can’t sustain massive trade imbalances

Tuesday, 9 November 2010 04:27 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday said the world economy could not sustain a situation in which some countries ran up massive trade surpluses or deficits.

Obama said his mandate was to grow the U.S. economy and the worst thing for the world economy would be if the U.S. economy were stuck with no or low growth.

Obama’s trip to India is aimed to seal big-ticket business deals to secure jobs and exports as well as countering Indian perceptions he has relegated Asia’s third-largest economy behind rivals China and Pakistan.

During a 10-day trip to Asia that will also take him to Indonesia, South Korea and Japan, Obama will push to resolve global financial imbalances, an issue he will make a focus of debate at next week’s G20 heads of state meet in Seoul.