New York Times: Across-the-Board Tariffs Could Mean Devastating Jolt to World Trade

The New York Times warned that the implementation of customs duties called for by US presidential candidate Donald Trump could lead to retaliatory escalation from other countries, which could cause a shock to global trade and lead to an economic recession, accompanied by high inflation rates. The newspaper reported that Trump blames the global trading system for a range of problems facing the American economy, including job losses, the closure of foreign markets, and the appreciation of the dollar. Trump insists that the solution lies in imposing tariffs -which he has pledged to raise if elected- which would result in China facing an additional 50 or 60 percent tariff on its exports to the United States, noting that Trump floated the idea of a 10 to 20 percent surcharge on exports from the rest of the world and warned that these comprehensive tariffs could lead to the destruction of global trade, according to the opinions of many economic experts. The newspaper explained that these fees will not distinguis h between competing and allied countries, or between essential and non-essential goods, which may lead to retaliatory responses from many countries, including Japan. If Trump imposes a 10 percent tariff on all imports, other countries, including Japan, will retaliate, stated Shigeto Nagai, head of Japan economics at Oxford Economics, to the New York Times. That could lead to economic recession and high inflation, a bad outcome for both the United States and its allies. The newspaper also quoted Kimberly Clausing, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who worked in the Treasury Department under US President Joe Biden, as saying that nobody is excited about a trade war, noting that the United States imported $427 billion worth of goods from China in 2023, while total imports from the rest of the world amounted to nearly $2.7 trillion. In a related context, the newspaper reported that the International Monetary Fund criticized the decision of US President Joe Biden's administrati on last May to raise tariffs on some Chinese goods, warning that trade tensions between the world's two largest economies threaten to negatively affect global trade and growth. Source: Qatar News Agency