Developing countries should strike swift trade deals with the United States at the "earliest possible" opportunity, the president of the World Bank said Friday, after a busy week with global financial leaders in Washington.

Ajay Banga was interviewed at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's Spring Meetings, which have been held this year under a cloud of uncertainty about U.S. President Donald Trump's stop-start tariff rollout.

The Bank has been advising developing countries to get a deal done quickly with the United States, and to then focus attention on cutting trade barriers and boosting regional flows of goods, Banga said.