Trump tariffs have caused greatest trade disruption in 80 years -Okonjo Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director-general of the World TradeOrganisation (WTO), says the ripple effect of the Trump administration tariffsis “the greatest disruption in trade in 80 years”. Okonjo-Iweala spoke recently during CNN’s GlobalPerspectives conference. On April 3, the United States President Donald Trumpannounced sweeping global tariffs on all imports into America — leading to about of several global trade events. Speaking on the numerous tariff impositions at the event,Okonjo-Iweala said “it is the greatest disruption in trade in 80 years”. “You can see the battering by the fact that the mostfavoured nation (MFN) trade came down from 80 percent to 72 percent,” she said. “But, there is also one thing that has come up which I knowthat all nations are taking account of: the system was built forinterdependence, not overdependence.” The former Nigerian minister said many nations had becometoo overdependent on the US for market demand and on China for criticalsupplies. “So, this is also a wake-up call to try to diversify yoursources of demand and supply,” she said. The WTO director-general said global trade and the systembuilt over 80 years has broadly delivered prosperity to all nations. The economist said it has lifted “more than a billion peopleout of poverty” and made rich and poor countries better, noting that she agreeswith certain criticisms of the trade organisation voiced by some Americans. “Not everyone benefitted the way they should. We recognisethat and I think some problems have crept into the global trading system thatshould have been dealt with,” Okonjo-Iweala said. “That is why I say I agree with some of the criticisms thatthe Americans make. But, by the way, they are not the only ones criticising thesystem.” Okonjo-Iweala said developing countries feel the system hasnot worked for them, “that they have not been fully integrated, and that theyhave not benefited as much”. “Emerging markets want to industrialise. They also feel thesystem needs to work better,” she said. “So, there’s lots of work to do and it is looking at thosecriticisms.” She noted that such criticisms are “coming to the fore nowbecause of the crisis we are in”, assuring that WTO members “are now focused ontrying to resolve it”.

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