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French Offensive Against the Dollar Falls Flat

Jan 10, 2011 – 7:40 PM
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Joseph Schuman

Joseph Schuman Senior Correspondent

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is on a mission to save the international economy through his nation's presidency this year of the Group of 20 major economic powers. And one of his principal goals has been to tackle perceived financial imbalances by reducing the prominence of the U.S. dollar in global finance.

But if Sarkozy was looking for support for his dollar offensive from President Barack Obama, he was disappointed.

Halfway through several hours of summiteering today at the White House, Obama praised France as a strong ally that has fought side by side with the U.S. in Afghanistan and been a close partner in fighting terrorism.

But while Obama noted that he and Sarkozy spent the initial part of their day discussing the G-20's work, any talk of economic cooperation, past and future, was much less enthusiastic and a lot more vague.

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"We've discussed how we can coordinate our agendas to make sure that we are as productive as possible in delivering the kinds of reforms and follow-through that will result in prosperity for peoples around the globe," Obama told reporters.

Sarkozy, who blames imbalances in the international monetary system for increased volatility in the global economy, could say little more.

"Our teams are going to be working very hard together to come up with common papers and common positions on the issues which are of interest and which come within the agreement of the G-20, such as the matter of currencies, of commodity prices and all that needs to be done in order to reduce the current and present imbalances," Sarkozy said.
Filed under: World, Politics, Money, Economy, Barack Obama, AOL Original
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