WAR ECONOMY

Global Economic Forecast at Lowest Point Since 2008 Following Trump’s Tariff War

The World Bank blames chaos caused by “trade uncertainty” for the dour economic outlook.

The World Bank has significantly downgraded its global economic outlook for the year ahead. The organization blamed trade disruption caused by President Donald Trump’s ongoing tariff war as a major factor in what looks to be the weakest expansion since the 2008 financial crisis. The global economy is set to grow by just 2.3 percent this year, the Bank said in its Global Economic Prospects report, down from a projected 2.7 percent. “International discord—about trade, in particular—has upended many of the policy certainties that helped shrink extreme poverty and expand prosperity after the end of World War II,” Indermit Gill, the Bank’s vice president and chief economist, said in the report. Elsewhere in their forecast, the bank noted that while further trade escalations could push their predictions even lower, the picture could improve if major trade agreements are agreed in the coming months. Negotiations between the U.S. and China are still ongoing after the two countries slapped each other with increasingly steep tariffs in April, with delegates set to meet in London to discuss a trade deal later this week.