Government Advisor: US Decision to Raise Tariffs Will Reduce Global Economic Growth
Mudhar Mohammed Salih, an advisor to the Prime Minister, confirmed on Sunday that the United States is a secondary trading partner and that Iraq is immune from the effects of tariffs. He explained that the US decision has subjected the world to a protectionist system similar to the isolation arrangements of World War II.
Salih told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "Although Iraq is immune from the effects of imposing tariffs on Iraqi exports to the United States, due to the US being a very secondary trading partner, with oil exports to the country not exceeding $5 billion annually, and similar imports of electronic goods and cars, concerns remain about imposing tariffs on the use of the dollar in trade with other countries. This is the most ambiguous paragraph in the US executive order, which has subjected the world to a global protectionist system similar to the pre-World War II trade isolation arrangements."
He added, "Because the US economy is one of the largest economies in the world, these decisions are expected to impact global supply chain costs and create cross-border inflation. Given the downward trend in the oil asset cycle due to the impact of US trade protectionism imposed on the world's largest trading region, global economic growth is expected to decline, causing stagflation unless this policy is halted or its scope is determined as a global trade war and a soft war."
Saleh explained, "Our country will indeed face two shocks: the first is the relative turmoil in rising prices in some supply chains, and the second is the gradual decline in the oil asset cycle, at least during the current summer, with prices falling below their stable equilibrium market values."
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