The International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings provided an important opportunity for countries to discuss trade at the sidelines, speaking with President Donald Trump’s new administration.
Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has slapped 10 percent tariffs on most US trading partners and a separate 145 percent levy on many products from China.
But despite Trump saying that there are many deals on the table, details have been scant.
Participants likely left the spring meetings with “a lot of anxiety about what these meetings will be like when they reconvene in six months, both for the state of the global economy and for individual countries,“ he told AFP.
“No deals have been announced but that’s not surprising. Trade agreements take time to negotiate,“ said Wendy Cutler, vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute and a former US trade negotiator.
For now, Washington has prioritized discussions with key allies like Japan, South Korea and Switzerland -- in line with the Trump administration’s comments that it would place more focus on about 15 important trading relationships.
“Comprehensive tariff negotiations are notoriously tedious, typically spanning years rather than months, and cannot realistically be compressed into a 90-day ultimatum period,“ he added.
But negotiations with Thailand, although initially scheduled, have been postponed as Washington sought further review on crucial issues, Harithas said.
Underscoring the differences between both sides, Dombrovskis added that tariffs are not a solution to address underlying trade imbalances -- a goal of the Trump administration as it rolled out various levies.
‘Frustration’
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent maintained Wednesday that Washington was close to a pact with India and making progress with other partners.
With current economic worries sparked by Trump’s policy decisions, Lipsky said there has been disappointment with current conditions.
And tensions between Washington and Beijing are “not headed towards any immediate resolution,“ he said.
Countries are now resigned to the idea that high US-China tariffs are here to stay, at least in the near future, he added.
“The only thing I’m fairly sure of,“ the official said, “is that in the end, the decision is made by President Trump.”
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