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BERLIN — Leaders of the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization and other agencies warned Monday that American protectionism could cause global economic damage, while the European Union backed a Group of Seven declaration that U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly refused to join.

At a meeting in Berlin hosted by Chancellor Angela Merkel, the German leader and top officials from a half-dozen international organizations said in a joint statement that the “increasing protectionist tendencies provide us with a clear incentive and opportunity to express our strong support for the multilateral trading system.”

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Merkel, fresh from the G-7 meeting in Canada, said those at the meeting were “firmly convinced that sustainable world economic development can only be achieved in co-operation and through win-win situations.”

She said with the Trump administration’s decision to implement new tariffs on aluminum and steel imports to the United States, “multilateralism right now is in a complicated and difficult phase.”