New forecast comes as Trump again threatens to impose higher tariffs on Chinese exports to US
The escalating U. S.-China trade war will inhibit global economic growth this year and next, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday, even as U. S. President Donald Trump again threatened to impose higher tariffs on Chinese exports sent to the United States.
In a new assessment issued at its meeting in Bali, Indonesia, the IMF predicted that « everyone is going to suffer, » as the U. S. and China — the world’s two biggest economies — spar over tariffs and other trade issues. It said the dispute between the U. S. and China would especially leave developing economies vulnerable to sudden stresses.
The international finance agency dropped its projection for world economic growth by two-tenths of a percentage point for both 2018 and 2019 to 3.7 percent, the first time it had trimmed its economic outlook in more than two years.
It predicted 2.9 percent U. S. growth this year, dropping to 2.5 percent next year, and to 1.8 percent in 2020, as the effect of U. S. tax cuts wears off and the trade war with China inhibits growth.
