Geneva (Reuters)-Comprehensive tariffs on the imports imposed by US President Donald Trump, and contracted may have a “catastrophic” impact on developing countries, reaching more seriously than foreign aid cuts, said the director of the United Nations Trade Agency on Friday.
Global trade can shrink 3-7% and 0.7% global gross domestic product, with developing countries the most affected, said the International Trade Center (ITC).
“This is huge,” Pamela Coke-Hamilton, executive director of the International Trade Center, Reuters, told Pamela Coke-Hamilton. “If this climbing between China and the US continues, it will result in a 80% reduction in trade between countries, and the ripple effect of it throughout the line can be catastrophic.”
Global markets remained in turbulence this Friday. Trump announced this week a 90 -day break in the fees of dozens of countries, but increased rates on Chinese products for an effective rate of 145%. On Friday, Beijing increased his trade war that threatens to compromise global supply chains.
“Tariffs can have a much more harmful impact than removal of foreign aid,” said Coke-Hamilton, warning that developing economies risk backwards in economic gains in recent years.
Some of the world’s least developed countries, including Lesoto, Cambodia, Laos, Madagascar and Myanmar, can seek to improve regional business relations to absorb the loss of part of the US market for their exports, ITC said.
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Bangladesh, the world’s second largest exporter in the world, could lose $ 3.3 billion in annual exports to the US by 2029 if the 37% US fee remains after the pause, according to ITC data. The country can look for European markets as an alternative as they still have growth potential, Coke-Hamilton suggested.
The ITC projections, a joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations that seeks to help countries develop through exports, are based on data collected before Trump’s 90-day break and subsequent increases in Chinese imports.
