International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday that the US and China both have trade grievances, but the world’s two largest economies needed to reduce uncertainty and agree on a fairer, rules-based trading system.
Georgieva refrained from directly criticising Trump’s tariff assault on its trading partners, noting that an increase in tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers were feeding negative perceptions of the multilateral system.
“This feeling of unfairness in some places fits the narrative, ‘we play by the rules while others game the system without penalty’,” Georgieva said. “Trade imbalances steer trade tensions.”
“We would like to see a reduction in uncertainty, and it is hard to get there if the two largest economies are still finding their footing and when, obviously, from the perspective of the world economy, it is important that the result of all this is a more, fairer, rule-based system,” Georgieva said.
