With the world’s largest economy sputtering amid ongoing chaotic tariff and trade policy, the World Bank released its twice-annual Global Economic Prospects report on June 10.
The report slashed its annual U.S. growth rate from 2.3% – which it had predicted just six months ago, to just 1.4%.
If the prediction is correct, it would mean that during the first year of the new Trump Administration, U.S. growth would be half of what it was during the final year of the Biden Administration, which saw 2.8% growth in 2024.
The report identified substantial trade barriers as a key factor contributing to the predicted economic slowdown.
More precisely, Trump’s tariffs are causing the entire world to spin towards reduced economic output and growth.
Still more ominous, the World Bank chief economist, Indermit Gill, wrote that the global economy was no longer headed for a “soft landing.’’
In the January 2025 report, Gill had predicted that the world economy would likely slow enough to reduce inflation without creating serious adverse effects.
However, Trump killed that notion on April 2, 2025, with his ‘Liberation Day.’
So much for Liberation Day ushering in the Golden Age of America.
Instead, America – like the rest of the world – is teetering on the brink of recession.
The World Bank summed up their report with the following: “The world economy today is once more running into turbulence,” Gill wrote. “Without a swift course correction, the harm to living standards could be deep.’’
A dark prediction of what is to come.