US-world divide spills out at IMF-WB meetings

WASHINGTON: The growing split between the United States and the rest of the world spilled into the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington this week.

The US administration showed a diminished view of the Bretton Woods institutions that shaped a US-led order after World War II, rejecting efforts to expand their activities, and defending its attack on free trade pacts as part of President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda.