Europe ‘well positioned’ for future shocks: ECB’s Lagarde | News

“We have to face key risk in quantities that we could not anticipate,” she said, citing, among other things, customs pressures and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

“We had uncertainty, granted, but eventually this driver was not as bad as we had anticipated,” she added.  

Many analysts predicted that the increase in US tariffs on European exports, which were ultimately set at 15 percent after tough negotiations, would cause a major shock to growth and a resurgence of inflation in the eurozone. 

However, the shock has — so far — been less pronounced than feared, with a stronger euro helping to reduce imported inflation. 

Earlier this week, the IMF revised its growth forecast for the eurozone for 2025 upwards to 1.2 percent, thanks to the robust health of the Spanish economy and a slight improvement in Germany and France.