The escalating trade clash between the U.S. and China has investors on edge , fearing it could mark the beginning of the end for global cooperation as we know it. On Friday, President Donald Trump called China’s new export controls “extraordinarily aggressive” and “hostile”; he threatened a retaliatory 100% tariff. (He later sought to deescalate the situation , calming U.S. markets.)

For Kristalina Georgieva, head of the International Monetary Fund, it’s just another day in the office. Speaking at Fortune ’s Most Powerful Women 2025 summit in Washington, D.C., she downplayed any fears of a trade war.

“Frankly, this thing that trade is dead is completely overstated,” Georgieva told Fortune ’s Diane Brady . “Trade is like water. You put [up an] obstacle, it goes around it.”

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