But what does it mean for the world’s future, not least its economic future, to be vulnerable to the unpredictable whims of the president of the world’s leading power? The World Bank’s new Global Economic Prospects provides a clarifying view of the recent past. In particular, it notes: “The global economy has shown notable resilience to heightened trade tensions and policy uncertainty. So, let us turn to what does matter to them: global economic prospects in a world subject to the whims of Trump. What we are seeing is a slow-motion erasure of the operating systems of the global economic and political orders.

Source: The Irish Times January 23, 2026 20:39 UTC