World trade growth, already forecast to be at its slowest this year since the financial crisis, may have to be revised further downward amid escalating US-China trade tensions, the World Bank said in a report on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th October, 2019) World trade growth, already forecast to be at its slowest this year since the financial crisis, may have to be revised further downward amid escalating US-China trade tensions, the World Bank said in a report on Wednesday.
"The estimate for global trade growth in 2019 was revised downward by a full percentage point in June, to 2.6 percent, the weakest pace since the global financial crisis. Preliminary estimates incorporating more recent data suggest that projections of trade growth may be reduced even further," the World Bank's Europe-Central Asia Economic Update for Fall 2019 said.
The report noted that global goods trade and industrial activity weakened substantially over the course of 2019.
"New export orders have been declining for more than a year, amid escalating trade tensions, most notably between the United States and China. By the end of 2019, tariffs will cover nearly all US imports from China and more than two-thirds of Chinese imports from the United States," the report said.
The report also stated that the volume of trade that was affected by restrictive measures recently introduced by G20 countries more than tripled over the past year in contrast to average figures for the period from 2012 to 2018.
"Disputes involving other economies have also escalated, particularly between the United States and India and between Japan and the Republic of Korea. Since October 2018, the volume of trade affected by new import-restrictive measures introduced by the G20 has more than tripled relative to the 2012-18 average," the report noted.
In June 2018, the United States imposed the first of several rounds of tariffs on Chinese imports, prompting China to respond in kind. Since, the two countries have imposed tariffs on the other in what has become a trade war, but have also engaged in talks to settle their trade-related differences.
