Carney tells Trump to stop disrespecting Canada

US President has vowed to escalate trade war even as global markets take a hit

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US President Donald Trump's tariff hikes will drag down growth in Canada, Mexico and the United States while driving up inflation, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) forecast on March 17, just as Mr Trump promised to press ahead with a new wave of levies in early April.

Mr Trump, speaking aboard Air Force One en route to Washington overnight, also repeated that he had no plans to create exemptions for the 25 per cent steel and aluminium tariffs that went into effect last week.

The OECD estimated in an economic outlook update that US households will pay a high direct price from the new import taxes, and the likely economic slowdown will cost the US more than the extra income the tariffs are supposed to generate.

Global growth is on course to slow slightly from 3.2 per cent in 2024 to 3.1 per cent in 2025 and 3 per cent in 2026, the Paris-based policy forum said, cutting its projections from 3.3 per cent for both this year and next in its previous economic outlook, issued in December.

It said US economic growth is seen slowing in 2025 to 2.2 per cent - versus 2.4 per cent in the OECD's earlier estimate - and would lose more steam in 2026, with growth now estimated at 1.6 per cent, down from 2.1 per cent previously.