Tariff talks to dominate IMF-World Bank meetings
Finance ministers are poised to use this week’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank’s gathering to strike up trade deals with bilateral partners as uncertainty continues to swirl around Donald Trump’s tariff plan.
Senior politicians and economic heavyweights are flocking to Washington for the biannual gathering put on by the two global agencies, with subjects like global debt and deficits, financial stability and ageing economies all on the agenda.
But the summit, which is also used as an opportunity for bilateral and multilateral talks, has been overshadowed by uncertainty around the US’s tariff regime.
Almost all of America’s trade partners were given a 90-day reprieve from the sweeping ‘reciprocal’ tariffs the President announced on 2 April, after a aggressive market ructions forced the administration to pause the roll out of the levies.
Economists have been speculating whether the slowdown in global trade caused by the barriers and uncertainty will push the world into a global recession. But the IMF’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said in the run-up to this week’s meeting that her organisation’s economic growth projections would include “notable markdowns but not recession”.
Earlier this month, however, Georgieva warned of the damaging effects that raising barriers to trade would have on global economic activity.
“It is important to avoid steps that could further harm the world economy,” she said in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’. “We appeal to the United States and its trading partners to work constructively to resolve trade tensions and reduce uncertainty.”
G20 finance ministers – including Chancellor Rachel Reeves – will meet alongside the IMF-World Bank summit. Politicians are expected to try and broker trade deals with the Trump administration,
Separately, reporting season continues at some of the US’s biggest tech giants, with Alphabet and Elon Musk’s Tesla both slated to release first quarter figures this week.
Tesla’s results – expected at US market close on Tuesday – will be especially noteworthy, with sales of the US carmaker’s electric vehicles having nosedived since the start of the year. Consumers have soured on the firm’s once industry leading EVs after several contentious interventions into European and US politics by Musk.
Google-owner Alphabet will publish its earnings for the first three months of the year on Thursday.
In London, Unilever will post its first set of results under the stewardship of new chief executive Fernando Fernandez. The consumer conglomerate’s former chief financial officer (CF) was appointed to the top job in March, will present the first quarter numbers on Thursday alongside interim CFO Srinivas Phatak.
Fernandez’s predecessor, Hein Schumacher, was ousted last month having spent less than two years at the helm.