China pushed back against a G20 statement criticizing economies that rely heavily on exports, accusing the move of promoting protectionism by leveraging multilateral forums to highlight 'economic imbalances' and 'overcapacity.' Commerce Ministry spokesperson Ling Huang made the remarks during a weekly press conference, warning that such actions would disrupt the global economic and trade order. The comments came ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington, D.C., later this month. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent used the Asheville G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting to advance positions on China and Iran, with 19 members backing a chair's statement on trade imbalances while China alone dissented. Bessent highlighted China's approximately $1.2 trillion 2025 trade surplus and the U.S. goods deficit with China below $202.7 billion. People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng reaffirmed China's commitment to domestic demand expansion and high-level opening-up. The meeting also covered Iran sanctions, global bond yields reaching 4.818%, and other issues including sovereign debt and artificial intelligence.