TORONTO -- President Obama warned Sunday that the world economic recovery remains "fragile" and urged continued spending to support growth, an expansionist call at the end of a summit marked by an agreement among developed nations to halve their annual deficits within three years. The United States, however, joined other countries at the summit meeting, which was met by protests and several hundred arrests, by endorsing a goal of cutting government deficits in half by 2013 and stabilizing the ratio of public debt to gross domestic product by 2016. The president's remarks tempered the Group of 20's headline achievement at the summit, a deficit-reduction target that had been pushed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the host of the meeting and a fiscal conservative. “There is also a risk that the failure to implement consolidation where necessary would undermine confidence and hamper growth.” 
 
 In a news conference at the conclusion of the summit meeting, Mr. Obama referred only indirectly to the disagreement with Europe, saying, “We must recognize that our fiscal health tomorrow will rest in no small measure on our ability to create jobs today.” 
 
 His concern about stimulus was echoed by some economists who viewed the pledge on deficits as imperiling the prospects for growth. The International Monetary Fund's managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, called the deficit target an "oversimplification" of the problem; he said it was more important for individual countries to craft the right economic policies to sustain growth, not blindly cut for the sake of meeting a goal. "Advanced surplus" countries -- developed nations that run large trade surpluses -- committed to try to narrow the gap between imports and exports, a particular concern in Europe, where Germany's powerful export-led economy is blamed by some for economic weakness in Greece and elsewhere. Strong emerging markets such as China, the document said, need to guard against a slowdown by encouraging their governments and people to spend more, investing more on infrastructure, establishing better social safety nets to give families more income, and allowing exchange rates to fluctuate more freely -- a quiet reference to China's managed currency policies. At China’s urging, the G-20 leaders removed from their joint statement a proposed clause that would have praised China for agreeing to greater exchange-rate flexibility.
– The leaders of the Group of 20 nations wrapped up their 2-day summit today in Toronto, striking an agreement to reduce deficits over the next 3 to 6 years without endangering the global economic rebound. The major economic powers vowed to cut their deficits in half by 2013 and "stabilize" debt by 2016 while saying the reductions would be "carefully calibrated to sustain the recovery," reports the Washington Post. The dates are not formal deadlines, thanks in large part to pressure exerted by the US and other allies—including Japan, to which the timeline doesn't apply, the New York Times notes. The American delegation was in the minority cautioning about a double-dip recession. Said one expert: "Aiming for a gradually improving debt-to-GDP ratio by 2016 is hardly wild-eyed fiscal conservatism."