#trade-policy-uncertainty

#trade-policy-uncertainty

"We decided the leadership was so unpredictable, anything could happen," he said, adding that tariff volatility made long-term commitments difficult. "If the tariff goes up to 25 per cent and we become uncompetitive, the whole store proposition is at risk," he said. "I'm not going to sign a five-year lease in this environment." His comments follow a US Supreme Court ruling that many of the tariffs introduced since 2024 were unlawful. However, the administration subsequently confirmed a temporary 10 per cent global tariff, later raised to 15 per cent, adding to market uncertainty.

In her curtain-raiser speech for the gathering, Georgieva rightly pointed out the global economy has proved more resilient than some feared at the time of the spring meetings in April, when the world's policymakers were transfixed by the chaos emanating from the White House. Part of the reason for that has been front loading: Trump's intention to jack up tariffs was no secret, and many companies ran up inventories in advance and started to rejig their supply chains.