As the International Monetary Fund takes China to task, the world’s “lender of last resort” is grappling with a new legitimacy crisis.
It used to be a one-size-fits-all response to financial crackups that earned the IMF global ire. From the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis to the lead-up to the 2008 “Lehman shock” to any number of meltdowns since, the IMF has often given dreadful advice.
The problem now is that the IMF’s neoliberal approach to putting out financial fires doesn’t matter much in the Donald Trump era. With the leader of the globe’s biggest economy upending game boards everywhere, and with accelerating speed, the IMF’s playbook looks as obsolete as any.
Between tariffs, economic blackmail and geopolitical adventurism, Trump 2.0 policies are rendering Adam Smith’s and David Ricardo’s theories less and less applicable to the growth, trade and…
