U.S. President Barack Obama is holding meetings with the leaders of China, South Korea, and Germany Thursday as he seeks to navigate tough talks on currencies and trade.
President Obama is in Seoul, South Korea, along with 20 leaders of the world's largest economies, known as the G20, for a summit beginning Thursday evening.
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Ahead of the summit, Mr. Obama argued that the burden is on global leaders as well as the United States to fix large trade imbalances and currency disputes.
In a letter released Wednesday to the G20 leaders, Mr. Obama said the prosperity of the United States' economic partners is linked to America's prosperity. He said all nations must work together to ensure a global recovery.
Mr. Obama said increasing consumer demand in countries with surpluses, and increasing savings in countries with deficits, can spur strong global growth.
Mr. Obama could be on the defensive at the summit, due to the U.S. central bank's plan to buy $600 billion in long-term government bonds. Some nations say this will give American goods an unfair advantage on world markets.
Trade balances and currency exchange rates have emerged as top issues at the summit. China is under pressure to allow the value of its currency to rise. That would make its exports more expensive and reduce its huge trade surplus, which rose by more than 50 percent in the last month alone.
Obama Meets Leaders of South Korea, China and Germany
