The G20 finance meeting broke up without a joint statement after the US and China clashed over China's huge trade surplus — a bad sign for anyone hoping the two sides are close to a truce.

• US Treasury Secretary Bessent blamed China directly, saying the country with the world's biggest and least sustainable trade surplus refused to go along.
• His complaint: China keeps flooding the world with cheap exports, and that can't last.
• China did not answer the accusation head-on, saying instead that global imbalances need a "balanced" view and that poor countries' debts should be fixed by helping them grow.
• The US chair's statement said China also blocked language on free shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a new group to study trade imbalances, IMF monitoring, and debt restructuring.
• Failing to agree on a joint statement is now routine for the G20 — the group has been split since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Outlook: Expect more friction over China's export machine, with the US pushing IMF-style scrutiny that Beijing keeps refusing.