Trump’s trade whiplash sinks world into dreaded ‘uncertainty’

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is displayed on a large screen as she speaks during the The International Monetary Fund and The World Bank Group Spring Meeting at the IMF Headquarters One on April 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/Postmedia files

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

The officials were among those who descended on the U.S. capital from almost 200 countries, ostensibly for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. They typically gather to address the the top challenges to the global economy — and Washington was at the top of that list this week.

Article content

Article content

Reassurances from the White House that the broad outlines of several new trade deals were around the corner contrasted with delegations still trying to figure out what Trump’s team wants and what they can offer.

Article content

With the global economy headed for a slowdown and no resolution in sight for the man-made trade chaos, some participants felt relieved the situation didn’t worsen this week but felt far from secure about what’s next.

Article content

“The worry I hear more often is actually not even tariffs, it is uncertainty,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters Thursday. “Let’s have clarity.”

Article content

This weeks’s buzzword “uncertainty” even crept into corporate boardrooms, with firms pointing to the dangers in earnings calls, and on trading floors across the globe amid the pace of Trump’s policy shifts.

Article content

Article content

Article content

“Reacting to all these headlines is, frankly, a bit of a nightmare for strategists and investors alike,” said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone in London. “It speaks to the general degree of incoherence, uncertainty, and volatility with which the White House continue to make policy.”

Article content

Article content

The week began with the IMF downgrading its growth forecasts to the weakest since the pandemic, and warning that conditions may get even worse.

Article content

Markets then rallied after Trump said he’d be willing to “substantially” pare back his 145 per cent tariffs on China and insisted he had no intention to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, easing concerns that the independence of the world’s most important central bank was at risk.

Article content

But that optimism was punctured when Bessent clarified the U.S. wouldn’t unilaterally lower tariffs on China. And in a sign of their strains, the top U.S. economic official had no meetings planned with his Chinese counterparts during the week, a time when they would usually hold talks.

Article content

A spokesman for China’s Commerce Ministry, He Yadong, dismissed speculation that bilateral progress has been made, saying “any reports on development in talks are groundless.” Trump on Thursday, however, insisted negotiations had begun, without providing details.