Global financial leaders await signals from a Trump-Xi summit

After a week of talks dominated by trade wars and geopolitical distrust, financial leaders were once again hung up on the outcome of a possible meeting between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies.

In Washington, the mood at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings was a mix of relief that US President Donald Trump’s tariffs had not caused a deeper slowdown and fear about the risks ahead.

Policymakers left town hoping that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would meet at the end of this month, coming to terms with the reality that the prospects for the global economy are at stake.

The meeting coincided with some of the harshest rhetoric between Washington and Beijing during Trump’s second term, as both sides pushed their dominance with export controls in key industries: the U.S. with high technology and China with its rare earth reserves.

With concern largely behind the scenes, with few officials willing to publicly voice their views on the power play, the IMF MD urged policymakers not to panic. Kristalina Georgieva suggested that the lack of retaliation against US tariffs prevented sub-par global growth from collapsing. “Our message to everyone is: be calm,” she said in an interview Thursday.

“And to China: be careful, do not provoke other countries to see you as a threat to their economies.” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng are expected to meet next week to negotiate recent escalatory measures – after Bessent blasted a Chinese negotiator during a press conference earlier this week, describing him as “unhinged” and perhaps “rogue”.