Talks between EU, U.S. don't point to trade war - Germany's Scholz

Trade talks between the United States and the European Union have been "sensible" and don`t point to a trade war, Germany`s finance minister Olaf Scholz said on Friday.

Finance ministers and central bankers from across the world are arriving in Indonesian resort of Bali this week for the International Monetary Fund`s annual meetings.

The gathering comes amid an escalating trade dispute between the United States and China, financial jitters in some emerging economies and worries about Italy`s public finances.

Scholz struck a sanguine tone, however.

"There are very sensible and trustful talks between the EU and the U.S. that don`t point to an escalation of the trade conflict," he told reporters.

Sitting alongside Scholz, Germany`s central bank president Jens Weidmann said a recent slowdown in global growth was due to a "normalisation" from previous years` exuberance, rather than a consequence of trade tensions.

Turning to Italy, Scholz said he took Italian policymakers` pledge to respect EU budget rules "at face value" but sent a warning to the euro zone`s largest debtor.

"If anybody has to give advice to Italy it`s to be careful what it`s doing," he said.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)