World Bank Backs Trump on Trade Barriers, Urges Global Tariff Cuts

The World Bank has publicly validated President Trump's longstanding concerns about the unfair trade practices faced by the United States, particularly the higher tariffs imposed on American goods by Europe, Japan, and China compared to those levied by the U.S. itself. Top economists at the World Bank urged these trading partners to substantially reduce their tariffs and called for a broad rollback of trade barriers to address the imbalanced and unsustainable global trade situation. While acknowledging that Trump's tariff measures have contributed to global economic uncertainty and slower growth, the World Bank emphasized that these actions were a response to uneven trade access harming the U.S. economy. The institution downgraded the U.S. economic growth forecast for 2025 to 1.4%, the weakest since the global financial crisis excluding the pandemic year, while China's growth projection remained steady at 4.5%. The global economy is expected to slow to 2.3%, with further risks of decline if trade tensions escalate, underscoring the urgent need to modernize global trade rules. This shift signals a rare alignment of major international financial institutions with President Trump's trade policy stance, pressuring global partners to ease tariffs and recalibrate trade relations.