Trade talks to rule IMF gathering

HUNDREDS of global finance leaders will descend on Washington this week, each with a singular mission: Who can I talk with to cut a trade deal?

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The semi-annual gatherings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group are bustling affairs with high-level multilateral policy talks, but also one-on-one meetings between finance ministers eager to broker deals on things like project financing, foreign investment back home and, for poorer economies, debt relief.

This year, rather than policy co-ordination on climate change, inflation and financial support for Ukraine’s struggle against Russia's invasion, one issue will dominate: tariffs.

More specifically, how to get out from under - or at least minimise - the pain from US President Donald Trump’s unprecedented barrage of steep import taxes since his return to the White House in January.

And the focus may be largely on one man, new US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is Trump’ lead negotiator for tariff deals and whose support for the IMF and World Bank remains a question mark.

“Trade wars will dominate the week, as will the bilateral negotiations that nearly every country is trying to pursue in some way, shape or form,” said Josh Lipsky, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Centre. “So this becomes a Spring Meetings unlike any others, dominated by one single issue.”