At IMF meetings, China's globalisation agenda left behind in trade debate

Some delegates from China at the Bali IMF and World Bank meetings expressed frustration that Beijing's agenda was being bypassed while international institutions had largely been ineffective in deterring Trump's tariff actions.

"Personally I think unfortunately the G20 hasn't contributed much to reconciliation and coordination of macroeconomic policies across the world," said Xiang Songzuo, deputy director of International Monetary Institute at Renmin University of China, who was a speaker at a sideline event during the meetings in Bali.

"We wish all these forums including G20, UN, World Bank, IMF, WTO, would become stronger, stronger and more productive in containing all these wrong things - protectionism, unilateralism," Xiang added.

The current leaders of the G20, which bills itself as a leading forum that seeks to develop global policies and address the most pressing challenges, conceded that it is effectively sidelined on trade.

"The G20 can play a role in providing the platform for discussions," said Argentine Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne, chairman of this year's G20 finance leaders' meeting. "But the differences that still persist should be resolved by the members that are directly involved in the tensions."

Although there are reports that Xi and Trump will meet at the G20 leaders' summit on November, Mnuchin told Reuters that currency issues would be part of trade talks, and that the onus was squarely on China to take concrete steps before trade talks could resume.

"This can't just be talk; there have to be meaningful commitments to create a rebalanced trading relationship," Mnuchin told reporters on Saturday, adding that structural changes were needed to balance the relationship.

"This is not about buying more soybeans and buying more LNG," he said.