SEOUL, South Korea Leaders of 20 major economies today refused to endorse a U.S. push to get China to let its currency rise, keeping alive a dispute that has raised the specter of a global trade war amid criticism that cheap Chinese exports are costing American jobs.

A joint statement issued by the Group of 20 leaders including President Barack Obama and China’s Hu Jintao tried to recreate the unity that was evident when the group of rich and developing nations held its first leaders’ summit two years ago during the global financial meltdown.

But deep divisions, especially over the U.S.-China currency dispute, left officials negotiating all night to draft the watered-down statement for the leaders to endorse.

The biggest disappointment for the United States was the pledge by the leaders to refrain from “competitive devaluation” of currencies. Such a statement is of little consequence since countries usually only devalue their currencies making it less worth against the dollar in extreme situations like a severe financial crisis.

Using a slightly different wording favored by the U.S. would have shown the G-20 taking a stronger stance on China’s currency policy.

The crux of the dispute is Washington’s allegations that Beijing is artificially keeping its currency, the yuan, weak to gain a trade advantage. But the U.S. position has been undermined by its own recent policy of printing money to boost a sluggish economy, which is weakening the dollar.

The G-20’s failure to adopt the U.S. stand has also underlined Washington’s reduced influence on the international stage, especially on economic matters. Obama also failed to conclude a free-trade agreement this week with South Korea.

“Instead of hitting home runs sometimes we’re gonna hit singles. But they’re really important singles,” Obama told a news conference where leaders tried to portray the summit as a success, pointing to pledges to fight protectionism and develop guidelines next year that will measure the imbalances between trade surplus and trade deficit countries.

Obama said China’s currency is an “irritant” not just for the United States but for many of its other trading partners. The G-20 countries ranging from industrialized countries such as U.S. and Germany to developing countries like China, Brazil and India account for 85 percent of the world’s economic activity.

“China spends enormous amounts of money intervening in the market to keep it undervalued so what we have said is it is important for China” to follow a market-based system, Obama said. “We have to understand that this is not solved overnight. But it needs to be dealt with and I am confident it can be.”