G-7 Leaders Confront Flagging Economy

Leaders of the seven richest industrial countries are confronting a global economy that has suddenly lost its oomph and could be dragged down even faster by the outbreak of the biggest trade fight in 60 years.

America’s threat of record trade sanctions against Japan in a bitter dispute over autos hangs like a dark cloud over this year’s economic summit, even though leaders have pledged to keep the fight off the formal agenda of the meetings, which get under way next Thursday in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The fear is that an all-out trade war between the United States and Japan will further unsettle a global expansion that is already showing signs in the United States, Japan and Europe that it could be running out of steam.