A new report by the World Bank released on Tuesday underscores the true damage being done by President Donald Trump's tariff war — and just how much poorer it will make the world, The New York Times reported.
"Despite the weakening outlook, the global economy is not expected to fall into a recession, the World Bank said. However, the trade tension is setting the stage for the weakest decade of growth since the 1960s. Economic development in many of the poorest parts of the world has come to a standstill," wrote Alan Rappeport.
Per the forecast, global growth is expected to drop from 2.8 percent last year to 2.3 percent — a decline 0.4 percentage points worse than forecast in January prior to the avalanche of tariffs imposed by the U.S. president.
World Bank chief economist Indermit Gill had a grim assessment: “The world economy today is once more running into turbulence. Without a swift course correction, the harm to living standards could be deep.”
Trump imposed a sweeping array of so-called "reciprocal tariffs" taxing imports from virtually every other country in the world, even uninhabited Antarctic islands with no population, industry, or exports.
He later scaled back many of these tariffs — spawning the derisive "TACO" meme, short for "Trump Always Chickens Out" — but they remain far higher than before he entered office.
A federal judge struck down Trump's tariffs last month, ruling they were an unconstitutional exercise of emergency powers. This order was swiftly put on hold after the administration appealed.