The G7 industrial powers, fearing a 1930s-style resurgence of protectionism, ended crisis talks in Rome yesterday with a pledge to do all they can to combat recession without distorting free trade.
The G7 also adopted a more conciliatory tone towards China, a non-member which the group sees as crucial to the success of further high-level meetings aimed at heading off the worst economic downturn in a generation.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, making his G7 debut in the job, rowed back on comments that Beijing was manipulating its exchange rate to its advantage and sought to soothe concerns over Washington's own anti-crisis plans.
Overnight, the US Congress adopted a $787-billion economic rescue plan that includes tens of billions of dollars for public building projects, with conditions including that they use US steel and other US-made goods.
The group's joint statement strove to allay concerns that governments determined to protect jobs and ailing industries would abandon commitments to fair cross-border competition.
It said stabilising the economy and financial markets was paramount, meaning that all had to work together and use all possible policy options to maximum effect.
"We will continue to work together to avoid undesirable spillovers and distortions," the statement said.
In a statement of his own, Geithner said the world faced the worst economic and financial crisis in decades and governments must respond forcefully, while upholding free trade principles.
President Barack Obama had ensured that implementing the new stimulus package would be done in a way that respected America's international obligations, said Geithner, without going into specifics on how that all squared.
Germany and Britain had kicked off the meeting on Friday by saying the world should avoid repeating the protectionist spiral seen during the Great Depression.
Their remarks highlighted growing unease over what looks like a contradiction between principled measures to free trade and measures that risk pulling the other way, such as the 'Buy American' clause in Washington's stimulus plan or national car aid plans in France and Italy.
The G7 meeting, involving ministers and central bankers of the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, is a step on the road to an April summit of the broader G20 grouping, which adds the large emerging market economies.
The current crisis, regarded by many as the worst since the 1930s, started in the US when a housing boom ended, and with it a boom in mortgage debt derivatives that banks and investors worldwide had bought into.
All the large G7 economies contracted in the last quarter of 2008 and even rising stars like China are slowing hard, though they are not quite in the dire state of more mature economies.
The 'Buy American' clause is not the only cause for concern. Rescue plans for French and Italian carmakers are a worry, as is a campaign within Britain to keep jobs for British citizens.
The G7 also touched on concern over China's state-controlled currency, seen as making its manufactured goods unfairly cheap in world markets. But the G7 was more conciliatory toward Beijing than in previous statements.