“Relative to the March [forecasts]... we have reduced the simple average of 2025 GDP growth forecasts across the major Emerging Asian economies by 0.2 percentage points (ppt), to 3.3%; for 2026, the downgrade is larger at 0.4 ppt, to 3.2%. Risks remain tilted towards deeper GDP growth forecast cuts and more aggressive monetary policy easing,” Barclays says.
Peter Navarro — US President Donald Trump's senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing — said after news broke that Vietnam was offering to cut its import tariffs on the US to zero: "If... they lowered our tariffs to zero, we'd still run about US$120 billion trade deficit with Vietnam... And the problem is all of the non-tariff cheating that they do."
“These comments add to a body of evidence painting a picture of a difficult road forward for any trade negotiations between Emerging Asia and the US,” says Barclays in an April 7 update.
