IMF Report: Trump Trade War Will Hurt Both U.S. and Global Economies
Since his second term began, President Donald Trump has imposed double-digit tariffs on nearly every nation, sending markets into turmoil. Trump said it was necessary, posting in all caps on Truth Social, “Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!).” But “it will all be worth the price that must be paid.”
In a new report this week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) found Trump’s trade war would negatively affect both the U.S. and global economies.
“Following an unprecedented series of shocks in the preceding years, global growth was stable yet underwhelming through 2024 and was projected to remain so in the January 2025 World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update,” the IMF wrote in the executive summary of the April 2025 WEO report. “However, the landscape has changed as governments around the world reorder policy priorities.”
It did not mince words assigning blame. “A series of new tariff measures by the United States and countermeasures by its trading partners have been announced and implemented, ending up in near-universal US tariffs on April 2 and bringing effective tariff rates to levels not seen in a century. This on its own is a major negative shock to growth,” not to mention “the unpredictability with which these measures have been unfolding.”
In short, the IMF found, “the swift escalation of trade tensions and extremely high levels of policy uncertainty are expected to have a significant impact on global economic activity.”
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Article from Reason.com
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