The world’s finance chiefs flocked to Washington this week to see up close how President Donald Trump’s effort to overhaul the global economic order is shaking markets and eroding growth.
As they gathered in private meetings and opined on panels about how his tariffs upend free-trade orthodoxy, markets were whiplashed by signals the U.S. may agree to cut its massive levies on China, which even Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said amount to a trade embargo between the world’s biggest economies.
The officials were among those who descended on the U.S. capital from almost 200 countries, ostensibly for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. They typically gather to address the top challenges to the global economy — and Washington was at the top of that list this week.
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