Xinhua News Agency, Washington, April 17 (Reporter Xiong Maoling) International Monetary Fund (IMF) President Georgieva said on the 17th that the actual tariff rate in the United States has obviously jumped to a "level that has not been seen by several generations", and tariff uncertainty is costly.

  The IMF and World Bank spring meetings will be held next week. In his opening speech that day, Georgieva said that based on all recent tax hikes, suspensions, increase and exemptions, the actual US tariff rate has obviously jumped to a "level that has not been seen by several generations", and other countries have also introduced countermeasures, and relevant measures will have a "spillover effect."

  She pointed out that rising trade barriers will immediately impact economic growth, and in the long run, protectionism will weaken production efficiency, and the impact on small economies will be particularly severe.

  Georgieva said the complexity of modern supply chains means that imported raw materials affect many domestic products, and the cost of a single item may be affected by tariff policies in dozens of countries. In this world of fluctuating bilateral tariff rates, corporate planning has become extremely difficult, with the consequences of cargo ships not knowing which port to head at sea, investment decisions have been delayed, financial markets are turbulent, and preventive savings have increased. “The longer the uncertainty lasts, the greater the cost.”

  Georgieva stressed that in terms of trade policy, major economies must work to reach agreements to maintain openness and achieve a more level playing field, and the global momentum of lowering tariff rates should be restarted while reducing non-tariff barriers and market distortions.

  The IMF will release its latest issue of the World Economic Outlook Report next week. Georgieva said that in the new forecast, global economic growth expectations will be "significantly lowered" but will not fall into recession; at the same time, inflation expectations in some countries will be raised.

[Editor in charge: Shi Ge]