IMF warns against trade and currency wars; urges fix to global rules

Nusa Dua, Indonesia

INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde on Thursday warned countries against engaging in trade and currency wars that hurt global growth and imperil "innocent bystanders." Formally launching the IMF and World Bank annual meetings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, Ms Lagarde urged countries to "de-escalate" trade conflicts and fix global trading rules instead of abandoning them.

The United States and China have slapped tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other's goods over the past few months, rattling financial markets as investors worry that the escalating trade conflict could hurt global trade and investment.

The tariffs stem from the Trump administration's demands that China make sweeping changes to its intellectual property practices, rein in high-technology industrial subsidies, open its markets to more foreign competition and take steps to cut a US$375 billion US goods trade su…