The risk of global economic growth slowing more than expected has spurred a call from top finance officials for countries to overcome trade differences and opt for multilateral cooperation and "timely policy action."
Policymakers from the Group of 20 industrialised countries are worried that the weakness evident in key economies could spread, especially if elevated trade tensions, such as those between the United States and China, escalate further.
"The balance of risks remains skewed to the downside," Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said following a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers.
"We recognise the risk that growth prospects might deteriorate if weakening in key economies feed into each other."
Aso's remarks dovetail with those of other officials gathered in Washington for the spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, many of whom fret that self-inflicted wounds from protectionist trade policies are to blame for the weakness.
The week's proceedings kicked off with another downgrade of global growth estimates from the IMF.
German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz called on the US to overcome trade differences with Europe, which erupted again this week when US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on $US11 billion worth of European Union products.
Scholz's consternation is understandable given the global downshift in growth is most evident at the moment in Europe, where the outlook has been further clouded by the uncertainty over Britain's departure from the European Union.
An internal European Central Bank model presented to policymakers on Wednesday indicates euro zone growth was just above 0.2 per cent in the first three months of the year and could be somewhat weaker in the second quarter.
The Trump administration was at odds with other IMF stakeholders on the need to boost the global lender's resources and update its governance, although it does support extending a portion of the IMF's $US254 billion crisis fund.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin repeated the US opposition to increasing overall funding and shareholding quotas, likely meaning the effort to lift IMF funding and reshuffle voting rights was a dead issue at this week's meetings.
The IMF has current total lending capacity of about $1 trillion, including the New Arrangements to Borrow crisis fund that was greatly expanded in 2009 at the depths of the last financial crisis.
