Latest news with #WTO
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Concern expressed over free trade agreements pursued by Central government
Leaders of farmers' and workers' unions expressed deep concern that the free trade agreements (FTAs) being pursued by the Narendra Modi-led Central government has been causing severe damage to India's agricultural sector. They asked the public to make the nationwide 'Quit Corporates' protest on August 13 a grand success, following the call given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha and the Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions. A joint meeting of the Andhra Pradesh Farmers' Associations District Coordination Committee and the District Struggle Committee of Workers' Unions was held here on Sunday. The meeting was presided over by Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham district president Katta Bhaskar Rao. Addressing the meeting, A.P. Rythu Sangham district secretary K. Srinivas, CITU district general secretary D.N.V.D. Prasad, Congress Kisan Cell district leader Rajanala Rammohan Rao, AITUC district president Reddy Srinivasa Dange, district leaders Puppala Kannababu, and A.P. Agricultural Workers' Union district secretary P. Ramakrishna voiced strong opposition to the FTAs being negotiated by Prime Minister Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump. They alleged that such agreements, similar to past GATT, Dunkel, and WTO deals, primarily benefit corporate companies by facilitating the sale of machinery and marketing of agricultural produce at the expense of farmers' livelihoods. Policies such as scrapping 10-year-old tractors and forcing farmers to buy new ones were denounced as exploitative. The leaders warned that these agreements could destroy agriculture, handover land to corporates, and undermine national sovereignty. They also expressed alarm over the impact of Trump's tariffs on the aquaculture and agriculture sectors. Demands put forth included scrapping Trump's tariffs, ensuring Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for all crops, implementing the Swaminathan Commission recommendations, and waiving loans for farmers, tenant farmers, and agricultural laborers. The 'Quit Corporates' protest in Eluru will be held at 10 a.m. on August 13 at the Old Bus Stand Centre, with similar demonstrations planned across various parts of the district.
News18
4 hours ago
- Business
- News18
Trump's 'Great Depression' Threat: Here's What Happened In 1929
According to WTO and IMF, the US average tariff rate rose from 2.4% at Trump's start to 20.1%, peaking at 24.8% after May's China tariff hike, the highest since 1904 US President Donald Trump has once again shocked the world, this time issuing a direct threat to the US judiciary and the global trade system. Trump has stated that if the court rules against his tariff policy, America will fall into another 'Great Depression' akin to the one in 1929. Trump asserts that his tariffs have strengthened the US economy, and a court rejection would disrupt the country's economic balance. He has labelled it the beginning of a 'Great Depression like 1929'. To understand why Trump's statement is considered dangerous, it's crucial to examine the impact of tariffs on the US market and recall the Great Depression of 1929. Trump Warns Of Crisis If Court Removes Tariff Trump wrote on the social media platform 'Truth Social' that if a 'radical left court' decides to remove the tariffs, America will never recover economically. He stated, 'If this happens, it will be a Great Depression like 1929. Destruction is certain. We will never be able to bring back our wealth, power, and respect." He sarcastically added that the court should have made a decision against the tariffs at the beginning of the case. Now, with the country at the peak of economic achievement, such a decision would be dangerous. Trump's Take: Tariffs Are Beneficial Trump argues that the tariffs have benefited the American economy, with billions of dollars flowing into the US treasury and a positive effect on the stock market. He called it the 'era of greatest wealth and power' for America. However, his policies have also been criticised. Many economists argue that tariffs have increased the burden on consumers and fuelled inflation. Highest Tariff Rate Since 1910 According to the WTO and IMF, the average tariff rate in the US has reached 20.1%, the highest since the 1910s. At the beginning of Trump's tenure, this rate was only 2.4%. After increasing tariffs on China in May this year, the rate surged to 24.8%, a record since 1904. Currently, the tariff war between America and China is on a temporary pause, but this truce is ending next week. What Was The 1929 Great Depression? The Great Depression of 1929 was marked by a massive stock market crash in America that devastated the global economy for years. Unemployment soared, banks and companies went bankrupt in large numbers, and there was widespread economic stagnation. Trump's warning alludes to this history, suggesting that if the court overturns the tariffs, America could face a similar economic catastrophe. tags : China Tariffs Depression donald trump economic crisis United states US court view comments Location : United States of America (USA) First Published: August 11, 2025, 17:53 IST News world Trump's 'Great Depression' Threat: Here's What Happened In 1929 Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
![[Editorial] Shifting trade rules](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fall-logos-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fkoreaherald.com.png&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
Korea Herald
20 hours ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
[Editorial] Shifting trade rules
Decline of WTO ushers in bilateral leverage, challenging Korea's export-driven economy A quiet yet drastic shift is underway: After three decades of World Trade Organization-led multilateralism, the United States has openly declared the system unsustainable. Writing in the New York Times on Thursday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer portrayed the WTO as a faltering institution that compromised American industry while enabling China's state-driven economic model to thrive. This is why the world is now witnessing the so-called 'Trump Round,' a new global trade order built not on consensus but on tariffs and bilateral leverage. In Washington's narrative, the multilateral model was naive: It presumed all members would abide by rules they helped to write. Instead, a system meant to bind China into fair competition allowed it to expand market share through subsidies, export controls and opaque regulation. Years of dispute-settlement paralysis left the WTO without a functioning appellate mechanism, further eroding credibility. What has replaced it is a model of direct bargaining, with tariffs deployed both as penalty and negotiating instrument. This has significant implications for South Korea. Its post-1995 export success was built on WTO access guarantees and predictable dispute resolution. Now the playing field is tilting toward power-based negotiation. Under the emerging bilateral terms with the US, Korean exports face a 15 percent tariff, offset partly by market-access pledges in other sectors and by Korean commitments to invest in US infrastructure and advanced industries. This is not a symmetrical arrangement. Washington controls the main 'carrot' — access to the largest consumer market in the world — and the principal 'stick' of targeted tariffs. The absence of binding multilateral enforcement means concessions will depend less on legal rulings and more on political calculation in both capitals. South Korea's first task in this environment is strategic clarity. It cannot treat US market access as a permanent right; it is now a conditional privilege. Securing continued access will require not only diplomacy in Washington but a clear sense of the trade-offs that domestic industry can accept. The second task is diversification. WTO's decline removes the institutional ballast that once made trade with China, the EU and Southeast Asia relatively predictable. Seoul must deepen ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the EU, accelerate talks for joining a major Asia-Pacific free trade agreement known as the CPTPP, and pursue sector-specific agreements that spread risk. The aim is not to decouple from the US but to avoid being trapped in a single-track export dependence. Third, Korea must adapt its industrial strategy. Semiconductors remain its core export, but the risk profile has changed. In a rules-light order, sectors less exposed to punitive tariffs — such as green technologies, biotechnology and digital services — will be vital hedges. Industrial policy should now focus as much on resilience as on speed of growth. Lastly, Seoul should not surrender the principle of rules altogether. Even in a fragmented system, there is room for 'mini-lateral' or regional frameworks that preserve predictable norms. CPTPP accession, deeper engagement with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and targeted high-standards pacts could help anchor at least part of South Korea's trade in enforceable obligations. The end of the WTO era is not the end of trade. It is the end of a certain kind of trade — one where a medium-sized economy like South Korea could rely on codified rules and impartial arbitration to protect market access. The new model prizes leverage, and those without it must find substitutes in alliances, diversification and innovation. The quiet demise of the WTO should be seen not as a collapse but as a strategic pivot. South Korea's track record of adaptation — from rapid industrialization to digital innovation — demonstrates its resilience amid profound change. The critical question now is whether it can convert this loss of certainty into a competitive edge before others seize the opportunity to define the new rules unilaterally.
Gulf Today
a day ago
- Business
- Gulf Today
World merchandise trade projected to grow 0.9% in 2025: WTO
World merchandise trade is now projected to grow 0.9% in 2025, up from the -0.2% contraction forecasted in April but down from the 2.7% estimate pre-dating the tariff increases. The upgrade is mostly due to frontloading of imports in the United States, WTO economists said in a forecast update. However, higher tariffs over time will weigh on trade, bringing next year's expected trade volume growth down to 1.8% from 2.5% previously. A surge of imports in the United States in the first quarter ahead of widely anticipated tariff hikes contributed to the upward revision to the forecast for 2025 issued in the April Global Trade Outlook and Statistics report. Increased tariffs—including those that took effect this week—will dampen trade in the second half of 2025 and in 2026. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said: 'Global trade has shown resilience in the face of persistent shocks, including recent tariff hikes. Frontloaded imports and improved macroeconomic conditions have provided a modest lift to the 2025 outlook. However, the full impact of recent tariff measures is still unfolding. The shadow of tariff uncertainty continues to weigh heavily on business confidence, investment and supply chains. Uncertainty remains one of the most disruptive forces in the global trading environment.' Asian economies are projected to remain the largest positive driver of world merchandise trade volume growth in 2025, although their contribution in 2026 will be smaller than predicted in April. North America will weigh negatively on global trade growth in both 2025 and 2026, but its negative impact this year will be smaller than previously estimated due to stronger-than-expected frontloading of imports in the US in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Europe's contribution to trade in 2025 has gone from moderately positive to slightly negative. Other regions, including economies whose exports are largely energy products, will see their positive contribution to trade growth shrink between 2025 and 2026 as lower oil prices reduce export revenues and dampen import demand. The higher tariffs that came into force on 7 August will weigh increasingly on trade, but this will be balanced against positive impacts from frontloading and inventory accumulation, which will have to be unwound at some point. Positive tailwinds have also come from an improved macroeconomic climate, although this is subject to a high degree of uncertainty. WAM
Indian Express
a day ago
- Business
- Indian Express
The ‘Turnberry system' – what the US' new global economic order looks like
Last week, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra touted India's 'bright prospects in the changing world order' in the medium term, adding that 'opportunities are there for the taking'. But will India be able to get its hands on any of these opportunities? Turnberry, of course, is a Trump-owned hotel and resort on the western coast of Scotland where in late July the US President and his European Commission counterpart, Ursula von der Leyen, announced their bilateral trade agreement. As part of the deal, goods from the European Union (EU) will face a tariff of 15 per cent when entering the US. However, it did not end there: by 2028, the EU will buy $750 billion of American energy products and invest $600 billion in the US. The deal has been called a 'capitulation' and humiliating for the EU. According to Julian Hinz, head of Research Center Trade Policy at Berlin-based Kiel Institute for the World Economy, it was an 'appeasement' and abandoned the World Trade Organization's (WTO) principles. 'Under WTO rules, member countries must apply the same tariffs to all other members. Deviations are only permitted under free trade agreements in which both sides reduce their tariffs to zero. The current deal clearly violates these principles and sets a dangerous precedent,' Hinz warned on July 28, adding that Trump's strategy of 'pitting other economies against each other' had only been strengthened. Greer's New York Times column, however, made no bones about abandoning the WTO and its doctrines. According to Greer, the legacy of the Bretton Woods system lived on in the form of an arrangement dominated by the WTO he said was 'untenable and unsustainable' – while the US lost industrial jobs and economic security, others did not undertake key reforms. China, meanwhile, was the winner. But now, 'reform is at hand', with the US-EU deal 'oriented toward serving concrete national interests rather than vague aspirations of multilateral institutions'. Multilateral institutions such as the WTO, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund have been criticised for decades for their policy suggestions, especially when it comes to debt-laden developing nations, as shown by the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the European debt crisis. Momentum to meaningfully reform them has gathered pace in recent years. Greer, however, has a more US-centric world order in mind. 'It took over 50 years from that first meeting at Bretton Woods until the creation of the WTO. It has been 30 years since. Fewer than 130 days from the beginning of the Trump Round, the Turnberry system is by no means complete, but its construction is well underway,' Greer concluded, calling the current round of global trade negotiations as the 'Trump Round' of discussions – a reference to the several rounds of talks held between countries that led to the formation of the WTO at the Uruguay Round in 1994. But what exactly is the Turnberry system? Going by Greer's column, the Turnberry system involves nations aligning on economic and national security interests and rebalancing trade in a 'more sustainable direction' such that the US' manufacturing sector is back on its feet. This, he said, warrants a 'generational project to re-industrialize America'. The era of the US getting other countries to lower their trade barriers by removing the tariffs that defended its own manufacturing sector is over; in its place, the removal of foreign trade barriers is being done 'while ensuring sufficient tariff protection at home'. This system also intends to enforce these new priorities in a far more telling manner than 'drawn-out dispute settlement process'. Should the US detect non-compliance, there will be swift retribution in the form of higher tariffs – the 'formidable stick' to the 'mighty carrot' that is the opportunity to sell your goods in the 'world's most lucrative consumer market', Greer said. Clearly, the Turnberry system is one which serves only one country. The US gets its pound of flesh in the form of re-industrialisation, while foreign companies get the opportunity to have access to the world's richest consumers. Or at least that's what the US government thinks. Leading academics have repeatedly warned that Trump's tariff war will not solve the country's problems. For instance, Robert Z Lawrence of the Peterson Institute of International Economics and a professor of trade and investment at Harvard University has said it is a 'fool's errand' to make the US economy go through a massive disruption just to create a relatively small number of manufacturing jobs. Moreover, dealing with bilateral deficits individually does not balance overall trade and without policies that cut American expenditure relative to its output, Trump's tariffs will only result in the shifting of its trade deficit from targeted countries to non-targeted ones, Lawrence has argued.
