The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, led a retaliatory attack on US President Donald Trump’s trade policy, warning that clouds over the global economy are gathering thicker every day, reports Reuters.
Trump refused a joint communique, agreed with the leaders of the G7 in Canada, which spoke about the need for “free, fair and mutually beneficial trade” and the importance of combating protectionism.
The US president, who introduced import tariffs on metals, is struggling to reduce the United States’ major trade deficit with key trading partners. “Fair trade should now be called stupid if it is not mutual,” wrote the head of the White House after the G7 meeting.
In response, Lagarde unleashed a thinly veiled attack on Trump’s trade policy, stating that trade-related problems were detrimental to business confidence, which continued to deteriorate even after the G7 summit over the weekend.
The Washington-based IMF adheres to its previous forecast of global growth of 3.9% in 2018 and 2019. Lagarde added that “the clouds on the horizon, which the fund had signaled about six months ago, are getting darker every day.”
The head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde. EPA-EFE / GIAN EHRENZELLER
The IMF Managing Director spoke after a meeting in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Labor Organization and the African Development Bank.
Yellowstone: Geyser Activity Increases
The geyser Steamboat in Yellowstone National Park in the United States this week erupted for the ninth time this year, although until 2018 it was quite rare and periods of calm often lasted for years, Forbes reports.
Steamboat (Steamboat – in translation from English “steamboat”) is the highest active geyser in the world. He throws a water stream about 91 m high.
This geyser is located in an area called the Norris Geyser Basin, which is considered the hottest and most variable thermal zone in Yellowstone Park.
Steamboat showed activity on Monday, just a week after the previous eruption. Prior to this, the geyser erupted four times in May, twice in April, and one more time on March 15.
The March eruption was preceded by a long period of calm after the eruption in September 2014.
“Major eruptions over the past few weeks have occurred with surprising regularity (every 6-8 days),” wrote Jamie Farrell, chief seismologist at the Yellowstone Volcanic Observatory.
“If there was anything to remember about the Steamboat eruption, it was noise,” Farrell notes. – The roar was as impressive as the sight. From time to time, stones (some the size of a baseball) were thrown with water to amazing heights. “
Recent geyser eruptions were slightly smaller than in the past. During the April eruptions, Steambot threw into the air about 200-400 cubic meters. m of water. This is 10 times less than that of another famous geyser in Yellowstone Park – Old Faithful (“Old Servant”). However, Steamboat is not predictable.
Scientists say there is no reason to worry that an increase in geyser activity signals the upcoming eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano.
Although the Yellowstone Caldera is considered active, scientists believe that it is unlikely to erupt in the next thousand years.
