Global | Europe defends Europe in Washington

Summary

The main difference between the fall International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings and those of last spring is that everything looks better: the global economy is growing at a reasonable pace, without inflationary shocks despite U.S. tariffs, geostrategic tensions and uncertainty.

Key points

• Key points:
• The U.S. seems to want to be more like China, with an economic policy focused on control and industry.
• China is applying with greater precision the trade pressures it learned from Washington and Brussels in order to dominate global value chains.
• Europe, caught between the two, is searching for its place on a chessboard where the rules that once made it prosper matter less than the exercise of power itself.
• Two important lessons for the future emerge from these meetings. Outside our borders, Europe is standing up for what Europe represents, while third countries demand that it exercise some counterweight and defend the rules of international trade. Words need to be matched by action.
• The U.S. has not been heavy-handed with tariffs and is increasingly talking about alliances and transatlantic coordination.

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