Trade Tensions Have Not Affected CRE. So Far

Chart by CBRE

WASHINGTON, DC–The voices warning that trade frictions could eventually affect a still-sanguine Wall Street and the larger trend of strong economic growth are getting louder. On the same day that the US challenged five of its major trading partners at the World Trade Organization for retaliatory tariffs the International Monetary Fund warned  that the global expansion that began two years ago has plateaued and become less balanced. “We continue to project global growth rates of just about 3.9% for both this year and next, but judge that the risk of worse outcomes has increased, even for the near term,” it said.

Perhaps more worrisome to those in the CRE industry, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in an interview on Bloomberg Television that stocks could drop 10% to 15% and US gross domestic product would slow next year if the Trump administration carries through with all the trade threats it has lobbed.