Bessent spoke to the Institute of International Finance as both the International Monetary Fund and World Bank held their spring meetings in Washington. On Monday, the IMF downgraded its forecast of U.S. economic growth to 1.8% this year, a reduction from the 2.7% it estimated as recently as January.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has played a balancing act trying to reassure nervous investors that the U.S. would maintain its global leadership role while staying true to the Trump administration’s skepticism of multilateral banking organizations.

Bessent sharply criticized the IMF and World Bank, saying that “mission creep has knocked these institutions off course.” He criticized the IMF for devoting too much time to “work on climate change, gender, and social issues” while failing to hold countries to which it lends money accountable for implementing economic reforms.