Lagarde: IMF can Cooperate with Trump to Improve Global Trade

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Thursday she believes the IMF can work successfully with the Trump administration to improve the global trading system, but added that open trade must be preserved as a growth engine.

Lagarde told a news conference at the opening of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington that the IMF saw the need to reduce subsidies and other trade distortions that limit competition, but also said "protectionist measures" needed to be avoided.

"From the various contacts that I've had with the administration so far, I have every reason to believe that we will make progress, that we will cooperate all together in order to support and indeed improve the system as we have it," Lagarde said. (Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao)