IMF slashes global growth outlook

Worldwide economic output will slow in the months ahead as US President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs on virtually all trading partners begin to bite, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, as global finance chiefs swarmed Washington seeking deals with Trump's team to lower the levies.

- ANDREA SHALAL DAVID LAWDER NUPUR ANAND

Indeed, the pace of negotiations was brisk, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, with 18 different countries offering proposals so far and Trump's trade negotiating team set to meet with 34 countries this week to discuss tariffs. Trump himself expressed optimism that a trade deal with China could “substantially” cut tariffs, lifting markets.

After setting a baseline import tax of 10% and much higher on dozens of countries earlier this month, Trump abruptly put the steeper levies on hold for 90 days for countries to try to negotiate less stringent rates.

The talks blitz is occurring after hundreds of finance and trade delegates arrived for the spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank Group, almost all with the singular mission of inking a deal to ease the hefty tariffs burden Trump has imposed on US goods imports since beginning his second term in the White House in January.

With tariffs on goods coming into the world’s No. 1 economy now at their highest in a century, the IMF projects global growth in 2025 will slow to 2.8% — its poorest showing since the Covid-19 pandemic — from 3.3% in 2024.

And it is not just a pain being visited upon others: US gross domestic product growth will drop by a full percentage point to just 1.8% in 2025 from 2.8% last year, the IMF forecast, with “notable” upward revisions to inflation as the cost of imports climbs.