US Growth Strategy announced by Geithner at the G20 Summit

“June 26, 2010
TG-761

Remarks by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner As Prepared for Delivery at the White House Press Briefing in Toronto at the G20 Summit

We meet over the next two days to advance the goals of growth and reform.

The G-20 leaders come to Canada with a solid track record.

The world economy is now coming out of the fires of the crisis.

Because we acted together, the world economy is now growing again, trade is expanding, and we are repairing the financial damage.

And just in the past few weeks, we have seen additional progress.

The United States is on the verge of enacting the strongest set of financial reforms since those that followed the Great Depression.  These reforms, which embrace the broad principles set out by the G-20, will reduce the risk of future crises and help make sure our financial system can better serve the interests of Main Street America.  And these reforms will help make sure the United States is a source of strength rather than instability for the world economy in the future.

The leaders of Europe have acted to establish a powerful financial stability program to stand behind its members undertaking reforms to address their financial challenges.  And Europe is moving to bring greater transparency and a stronger financial foundation to its banking system.  

China is acting to allow its exchange rate to appreciate in response to market forces.  This is an  important step toward helping China better meet its own challenges and providing  a more level playing field for all its trading partners.

These are important steps, but the scars of this crisis are still with us.  So, this Summit must be fundamentally about growth.  And our challenge, as the G-20, is that we all need to act to strengthen the prospects for growth. 

This will require different strategies in different countries.  We are coming out of the crisis at different speeds. 

These meetings give us the chance to assess how the other major economies of the world are meeting this challenge of growth. 

What we share is a recognition that if the world economy is to expand at its potential, if growth is going to be sustainable in the future, then we need to act together to strengthen the recovery and finish the job of repairing the damage of the crisis.  And we agree on the need to restore balance to a world economy that got dangerously out of balance.”