CABINET/IMF/TREASURY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/STEVE MNUCHIN/WORLD BANK: “Leaders of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund may have this past weekend won the qualified backing of the Trump administration, but their work is hardly done.
Both institutions will likely still have to prove to their largest and most powerful shareholder that they represent an efficient use of U.S. taxpayer dollars to promote the nation’s interests abroad.
‘You’ve done a great job as an institution,’ Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde Saturday [4-22-17] after several days of global finance-minister meetings. The fund’s ‘primary objectives…are still critical today.’
‘But it’s also a lot about execution,’ Mr. Mnuchin added.
Mr. Mnuchin’s mixed message contained a subtle warning: If the IMF and the World Bank fail to deliver on key U.S. objectives, the administration could rethink the nature of its engagement with them.”
-Ian Talley, “World Bank, IMF Are on Guard With the Trump Administration,” The Wall Street Journal online, April 24, 2017 8:50pm