Transformation River Cruise Tour

The Pittsburgh Regional Alliance hosted a cruise aboard the Riverquest Explorer this afternoon to tell the story of Pittsburgh’s economic and environmental transformation. Some G20 visitors had their own lessons to teach.

A magazine correspondent from China, a G20 researcher from Canada—both attributing much of the current world economic crisis to “global imbalances”. John Kirton, director of the G20 Research Group at the University of Toronto, says there was an illusion of vibrant economic growth before the downturn, but it was based on Americans shopping 'til they dropped on money borrowed from China.

Zengxin Li is a correspondent for Caijing Magazine, the leading Chinese business publication. On the subject of the newly imposed U.S. tariff on Chinese tires, he says eliminating the $17 Billion dollar market will just result in more tires imported from India, Indonesia and Brazil. He says until the exchange rate is corrected and the Chinese reduce saving and increase consumption, the same old problem will just reappear in different guises.

Similarly, John Kirton says as Americans have started saving in response to the recession, other countries need to start consuming so Americans can export and the world economy achieve some balance.

Listen to a longer interview with Zengxin Li.

Listen to a longer interview with John Kirton.