BADEN-BADEN, Germany — Top finance officials including new U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are debating how strong a statement to make in support of free trade at a meeting that will help set the tone for the global economy.

The gathering of finance ministers and central bank heads from the Group of 20 countries has focused on shifting attitudes toward trade, particularly after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to impose border taxes and rewrite free trade deals.

Attention has centered on a joint statement that is being prepared for Saturday. Early drafts have dropped an earlier ban on protectionism but there was no agreement on what to replace it with, or exactly how to put their position into words, said officials who briefed reporters Friday only on condition of anonymity because the talks were ongoing.

Deputies assigned to work out the details ahead of time had to leave the matter for the ministers, who held the first of their sessions late Friday afternoon German time at the two-day meeting in the spa town of Baden-Baden in southern Germany.

The meeting’s host, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, told reporters that “no one has mentioned protectionism” and that the statement was rather about “the right formulation regarding the openness of the world economy.”