President Trump looks to have a fight on his hands if, as expected, he taps Treasury Department official David Malpass to be the next president…
President Trump looks to have a fight on his hands if, as expected, he taps Treasury Department official David Malpass to be the next president of the World Bank.
By longstanding custom since the end of World War II, an American heads the global development finance body while a European runs the International Monetary Fund. But that chummy tradition is being challenged this time by China and other emerging economic powers and by critics who say Mr. Trump’s choice has long been a skeptic of the institution he will run.
Mr. Malpass, 62, an economist and veteran of the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations who now serves as Treasury undersecretary of international affairs, has a number of strikes against him, as far as the global development community is concerned: He’s seen as a Trump loyalist who has pushed for lending reforms, including scaling back loans to wealthier countries, starting with China.
Another objection: He’s an American at a time when “the right of the U. S. to appoint the World Bank head has been increasingly questioned,” said Martin S. Edwards, associate professor and director of graduate studies at Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations.
“ Malpass fits the pattern of Bush appointees in having a mix of private sector and government experience, but not having development experience,” said Mr. Edwards. “His appointment fits the Trump pattern of prizing ideological loyalty above all else, and that’s the concern.
