Is the global slowdown due to tariffs in the United States?

Once again in October 2019, the IMF highlighted the role played by the tariffs introduced by the Trump administration in the United States in the slowdown in global trade and global growth. We do not believe the increase in US tariffs could be the cause of the slowdown in global growth. We rather believe it is due to: The global decline in demand for a number of products (cars, intermediate goods, capital goods), due to environmental constraints and the transformation of economies into service economies; The decline in Chinese imports, which is not linked to US tariffs but to the decline in demand for industrial products in China (cars, capital goods, metals, etc.).