Global stocks sank Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said he was not satisfied with talks that are aimed at averting a trade war with China. Equities were also dented by poor eurozone economic data, and as Trump cast doubt on a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “Trump (is) continuing to drive uncertainty over global trade,” said analyst Joshua Mahony at trading firm IG. “European markets are following their Asian counterparts lower, as a pessimistic tone from Trump is compounded by downbeat economic data,” he added. Markets had surged Monday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said they had agreed to pull back from imposing threatened tariffs on billions of dollars of goods, and continue talks on a variety of trade issues. However, Trump has declared that he was “not satisfied” with the status of the talks, fuelling worries that the world’s top two economies could still slug out an economically pain
The world faces a “dark future” if it fails to tackle climate change and inequality, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde warned on Tuesday.
“If we don’t address these issues… we will be moving to a dark future” in 50 years, she told a major economic conference in the Saudi capital.
On climate change, Lagarde said that “we will be toasted, roasted and grilled” if the world fails to take “critical decisions” on the issue.
In 2015, around 195 nations signed the Paris climate agreement which set measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to prevent temperatures rising by more than two degrees in around 50 years.
But US President Donald Trump announced in June the start of a three-year process to pull out of the pact, arguing that it would put the US at an economic disadvantage.
His move faced fierce criticism from world leaders and activists, with former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon accusing Trump of “standing on the wrong side of history”.
Lagarde also called for tackling inequality between men and women and countries that are “haves” and those that are “have nots”.
If the world wants a future that “looks like utopia and not dystopia”, it needs to address such concerns, Lagarde said.
She predicted that in 50 years’ time, oil will be a secondary commodity.
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