JAKARTA – Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF, has stated that US import tariffs pose significant risks to the global economic outlook.

"We are still assessing the macroeconomic implications of the announced tariff measures, but they clearly represent a significant risk to the global outlook at a time of sluggish growth,” Kristalina said, as quoted by Reuters.

She further explained that the IMF will present the findings of its tariff policy assessment in the World Economic Outlook, scheduled for April 21–26, 2025, in Washington DC.

Earlier, on Monday (31/3), Kristalina had asserted that while Trump’s tariff policy does create instability, the risk of a long-term recession remains negligible.

However, the scale of Trump’s retaliatory tariffs has exceeded market and expert expectations, including those of US credit rating agency Fitch Ratings.

“The ‘Liberation Day’ tariff increases outlined by the US government on April 2 sharply exceeded the already steep rises assumed,” Fitch Ratings stated.

Echoing the IMF, Fitch Ratings warned that these tariffs could disrupt the global economic outlook. “Significantly raising US recession risks and constraining the Federal Reserve’s ability to lower interest rates further,” it added. (ZH)