Trump’s war and rhetoric are drowning out the IMF’s growth agenda

In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady on the factors that will determine whether the IMF can stay focused on growth.

The big leadership story: One CEO is backing off a vow to evaluate employees on their AI use.

The markets: Up as investors shrug off stalled U.S.-Iran peace talks.

Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.

​​Good morning. For CEOs dealing with the uncertainty of inflation, shipping blockades, interest rates, tariffs, income inequality, AI development and more, keep an eye on the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington this week. The gatherings offer telling clues on how central bankers, finance ministers and other policymakers view the issues impacting the global economy—and what they intend to do about it. Last year, much of the focus was on the fallout of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. This year, it’s on the  fallout of Trump’s war on Iran. Will they focus on the issues and policies most critical to growth? That may depend of factors like these:

The Fog of War – IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has a full agenda, from rising public debt levels and income inequality to global trade and regulation. World Bank President Ajay Banga is focused on job growth, sustainable development, access to technology, food security and building out the economies of the Middle East. And yet we kicked off day one with the U.S. blocking all ships through the Strait of Hormuz while the president insulted the Pope. There are plenty of wars impacting growth right now: the Russia-Ukraine, the Israel-Gaza war, a global trade war and civil wars in Sudan, Myanmar and elsewhere. But the war that’s threatening global energy supplies, upending geopolitics, fomenting a food crisis and likely to curb global growth long after any ceasefire is the Iran war. The job of these gatherings is to mitigate the economic damage. The only country with veto power at both the IMF and World Bank: the United States. 

Jerome Powell’s Swan Song – This will be Powell’s last meeting with central bankers as Kevin Warsh is set to take over as Federal Reserve chair next month. Warsh has a strong track record and many fans. But Powell played a critical role at a vulnerable time for America’s central bank, steadfastly protecting its independence, enforcing accountability,brushing aside insults and continuing to work with the administration to avert crisis. Just last week, he and the Treasury secretary convened Wall Street leaders to talk about cybersecurity concerns arising from Anthropic’s latest AI model. In doing so, he’s helped bolster America’s reputation as an ally in stabilizing the global economy at a time when forces have tried to push it the other way.

Shifting Alliances – Last fall, Georgieva told me at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women 2025 summit that “trade is like water” because “you put in an obstacle, it goes around it.” But water can flow multiple ways. Over the past year, we’ve seen Canada forge a closer relationship with China, Europe coming together against the U.S. over Greenland, and China’s continued ascent. The call to invest in America First is strong, but there may be signals that faith in Brand USA is waning. Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Duolingo reverses employee AI usage evaluation policy

CEO Luis von Ahn said Duolingo would no longer assess an employee's AI use as part of its performance reviews nearly a year after announcing it would do so. Von Ahn said the company instead would evaluate “that you are doing whatever your job is as well as possible. A lot of times AI can help you with that. But if it can’t, I’m not going to force you to do that.”

U.S. blockade of Strait of Hormuz 

Markets were mostly muted to the U.S.’s promised blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, but the move could trigger a currency devaluation spiral and hyperinflation in Iran, according to Robin Brooks, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Those pressures could bring the country’s regime back to the table for peace talks. 

Pepsi is ‘trying to learn’ from Poppi 

Allison Ellsworth, 38, sold Poppi, one of the fastest-growing beverage brands in the country, to Pepsi (No. 45 on the Fortune 500) for $2 billion. Now, the beverage giant is trying to absorb some of Poppi’s TikTok-fluent, nimble marketing. “They’ve been really big on ‘let Poppi be Poppi,’” Ellsworth said, adding: “I think they’re actually trying to learn from us.”

S&P 500 futures are up 0.18% this morning. The last session closed up 1.02%. The STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.77% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 0.32% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 2.43%. China’s CSI 300 was up 1.19%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.82%. South Korea’s KOSPI was up 2.74%. Indian markets are closed today. Bitcoin was up at $75K.

Around the watercooler

Investors are writing off any move from the Fed this month. Collapsing talks in Iran have sealed the deal by Eleanor Pringle

After growing up on a dairy farm, this Peter Thiel-backed founder is using AI to save cattle ranching by Jake Angelo

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donates $70 million to Meals on Wheels America—helping feed more than 2 million people a year by Emma Burleigh

Anthropic caused panic that Mythos will expose cybersecurity weak spots, but one industry veteran says real problem is fixing, not finding, them by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez

The FAA is recruiting gamers to fix America’s air traffic controller crisis—and offering $155,000 to do it by Sasha Rogelberg

CEO Daily is curated and edited by Andrew Wyrich, Jason Ma, Claire Zillman, and Lee Clifford.

Diane Brady writes about the issues and leaders impacting the global business landscape. In addition to writing Fortune’s CEO Daily newsletter, she co-hosts the Leadership Next podcast, interviews newsmakers on stage at events worldwide and oversees the Fortune CEO Initiative. She previously worked at Forbes, McKinsey, Bloomberg Businessweek, the Wall Street Journal, and Maclean's. Her book Fraternity was named one of Amazon’s best books of 2012, and she also co-wrote Connecting the Dots with former Cisco CEO John Chambers.

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