IMF Sees Unwinding of Global Trade Surge Ahead of Trump Tariffs

The International Monetary Fund is seeing signs that the rise in trade and activity to front-run US President Donald Trump’s tariffs is beginning to unwind as the global economy still faces heightened uncertainty.

Recent trade pacts Washington reached with China and the UK to lower tariffs, as well as the White House decision April 9 to pause some of Trump’s highest duties, are a “bit of a positive sign for economic activity,” spokeswoman Julie Kozack said Thursday in a briefing. But data showing slowing activity and doubling of US tariffs on steel and aluminum create a “complicated picture,” she ...