IMF officials pledge to combat global economic slowdown and trade war tensions
- The IMF managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said the threat from trade wars was a chief point of discussion for finance officials
- Asked about Donald Trump’s trade war with China, ex-IMF chief Christine Lagarde said it would give the world’s economy ‘a big haircut’
Global finance officials wrapped up their fall meetings on Saturday with a pledge to “employ all appropriate tools” to combat the weakest global growth in a decade, but there was little evidence of progress in easing trade tensions, a major source of the slowdown.
The policy-setting committee for the 189-nation International Monetary Fund said in a closing statement that growth should accelerate next year. Officials acknowledged that a range of factors could undermine that forecast, including continued trade fights and increased geopolitical risks.
“We recognise the need to resolve trade tensions and support the necessary reform of the World Trade Organisation,” the statement said. It did not detail ways to accomplish that.
There was also no sign that discussions on the sidelines of the meetings had produced any breakthrough in the trade disputes initiated by US President Donald Trump as part of his get-tough approach to stronger enforcement of US trade laws to lower America’s huge trade deficits.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in remarks to the IMF committee, said the administration’s goal was to prepare “a foundation for future growth through fairer trade deals”.
