G20 Comes to Asheville: Finance Ministers aren't Hurricane Debris Workers

The world's financial leaders have arrived in Asheville, a city still rebuilding from Hurricane Helene.

That juxtaposition is hard to miss.

But while Western North Carolina's recovery provides an important backdrop for the G20 Finance Ministerial, the officials gathering at the Omni Grove Park Inn aren't here to clean up storm debris or rebuild damaged roads.

They are here to talk about the global economy.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a Republican, who is hosting the meeting, has made clear that his priority is economic growth.

In announcing Asheville as the site of the meeting earlier this year, Bessent said the administration wanted to “bring the G20 back to its core mission” with a “streamlined, results-oriented approach” focused on pro-growth economic policies. 

He is the highest-ranking openly gay member of the President's Cabinet in United States history. A South Carolina native who has a home in western NC, he says he chose Asheville deliberately near two years after the storm that killed 140 people statewide, according to federal officials.

“I am proud to spotlight that the United States will host the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Asheville, North Carolina,” Bessent said, calling the city's selection a reflection of the administration's “commitment to the revitalization and resilience of western North Carolina” as the region continues rebuilding after Helene. 

That symbolism has attracted protesters, who argue that Western North Carolina's recovery remains unfinished and that the administration should not portray the region as fully recovered.

Their concerns are part of the debate surrounding the meeting.

But Bessent's economic argument is broader than disaster recovery.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, he said the G20 needs to focus on economic growth, deregulation, energy independence, global trade imbalances and sovereign debt.

“We want the rest of the world to come along with our growth agenda,” Bessent said. “The world has this mountain of debt, and we do have to grow our way out of it.

That is the fundamental issue at the heart of the Asheville meeting.

The G20 cannot remove a tree from a Helene-damaged road. It cannot rebuild someone's house. Those are recovery jobs for governments, contractors and communities, according to government policies under various local, state and federal laws.

Cody Cogdell, an unaffiliated voter who lives in Mooresboro and is an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, was among those who addressed a crowd of dozens of people in Asheville’s Pack Square on Aug. 28. Costumed protesters also joined the demonstration. “The whole reason we’re out here is to fight against this lie that Western North Carolina has recovered and that any recovery we have had has been a result of our federal government,” he told BPR. 

Finance ministers are not elected officials, nor do they have control over the North Carolina Emergency Management policies, largely responsible for hurricane clean-up. NCEM is part of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, which is run by an Interim Secretary who was recently appointed by NC Governor Josh Stein, a Democrat. 

Federal officials under the Department of Homeland Security can help fund local hurricane relief programs through various federal regulations. The Department of the Treasury has a very different role in the larger economy.

What finance ministers can do is discuss the policies that shape the economic environment in which those communities operate — including investment, trade, energy, debt and financial regulation.

Residents are still looking for tangible results from the enormous recovery effort following Helene. Protesters want the federal government to do more and say the region's recovery should not be declared a success prematurely.

The administration, meanwhile, is using Asheville to make a different argument: that long-term prosperity requires economic growth, investment and policies designed to make it easier for businesses and communities to recover and expand.

Both conversations are taking place against the same backdrop.

The G20 will eventually leave Asheville.

The Helene recovery will not.

And that may be the most important reason Western North Carolina is paying attention to what happens inside the Omni Grove Park Inn.