Rebalancing the world economy: Right idea but wrong approach
RICHARD SAMANS
Brookings, April 11, 2025
Tariffs alone won’t fix global imbalances, but a four-part “G3” accord across fiscal, monetary, development, and trade policy could.
The U.S. has leverage, China has urgency, but Europe may be best positioned to lead the way out of the crisis.
The new U.S. administration continues to shock the world with its tariff initiatives. Until recently, its actions had been mainly tactical, ostensibly targeted at specific national security problems such as border security and steel and aluminum productive capacity. By contrast, the new “reciprocal” tariff initiative has a more strategic stated ambition; it seeks to slash the country’s trade deficit and boost its manufacturing output through a wholesale shift in tariffs to levels not seen since the 1930s.
Read the full commentary at Brookings.edu.
Richard Samans is a member of the GFI Board of Directors.