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April 2, 2009 NEWS CONFERENCEBY PRESIDENT OBAMA ExCel CenterLondon, United Kingdom?6:44 P.M. (Local) PRESIDENT OBAMA:? Earlier today, we finished a very productive summit that will be, I believe, a turning point in our pursuit of global economic recovery. By any measure, the London summit was historic.? It was historic because of the size and the scope of the challenges that we face, and because of the timeliness and magnitude of our response. The challenge is clear.? The global economy is contracting. Trade is shrinking.? Unemployment is rising.? The international finance system is nearly frozen.? Even these facts cant fully capture the crisis that were confronting, because behind them is the pain and uncertainty that so many people are facing.? We see it back in the United States.? We see it here in London.? We see it around the world:? families losing their homes, workers losing their jobs and their savings, students who are deferring their dreams.? So many have lost so much.? Just to underscore this point, back in the United States, jobless claims released today were the highest in 26 years.? We owe it to all of our citizens to act, and to act with a sense of urgency. In an age where our economies are linked more closely than ever before, the whole world has been touched by this devastating downturn.? And today, the worlds leaders have responded with an unprecedented set of comprehensive and coordinated actions. Now, just keep in mind some historical context.? Faced with similar global challenges in the past, the world was slow to act, and people paid an enormous price.? That was true in the Great Depression, when nations prolonged and worsened the crisis by turning inward, waiting for more than a decade to meet the challenge together.? Even as recently as the 1980s, the slow global response deepened and widened a debt crisis in Latin America that pushed millions into poverty. Today, weve learned the lessons of history.? I know that in the days leading up t