World Bank Group President Ajay Banga speaks during an interview with AFP at the IMF/World Bank Group Spring Meetings at the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC, on April 25, 2025. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
April 25, 2025
Washington, United States (AFP)—Developing countries should strike swift trade deals with the United States at the “earliest possible” opportunity, the president of the World Bank told AFP Friday, after a busy week with global financial leaders in Washington.
Ajay Banga was interviewed by AFP at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s Spring Meetings, which have been held this year under a cloud of uncertainty about 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.
“You need to negotiate trade systems with the US at the earliest possible,” he said. “If you delay, it hurts everyone.”
Trump’s tariffs have roiled financial markets, sent volatility surging and spooked investors and consumers.
Since returning to office in January, the US leader has imposed a “baseline” 10 percent tariff on most countries, with much higher duties on China, and 25 percent sector-specific levies on areas including steel, aluminum, and automobiles not manufactured in the United States.
He also introduced much higher tariffs on dozens of countries — which have since been temporarily paused — accusing them of having an unfair trade balance with the United States.