{"id":59757,"date":"2025-07-31T08:18:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T08:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/trumps-tariffs-win-but-global-trade-system-holds"},"modified":"2025-07-31T08:29:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T08:29:32","slug":"trumps-tariffs-win-but-global-trade-system-holds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/trumps-tariffs-win-but-global-trade-system-holds","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s Tariffs Win but Global Trade System Holds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>President Donald Trump has succeeded in strong-arming nations to accept higher tariffs on US exports, yet for now experts see little threat to the postwar trend of lower duties in the pursuit of greater wealth all around.<\/p>\n

Since World War II, most politicians and economists view free trade as a pillar of globalisation, enshrined in the 1947 signing of the GATT accord. It was the precursor to the World Trade Organization, which now has 166 members and covers 98 percent of global commerce.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve learned in the postwar is that lower tariffs are better for prosperity of your own country,\u201d said Richard Baldwin, a professor at the IMD Business School in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s also good if other countries lower their tariffs, so we have a vibrant international economy,\u201d Baldwin, who was a member of US president George Bush\u2019s Council of Economic Advisors, told AFP.<\/p>\n

Trump however has embarked on a punishing trade war, claiming that deficits with other nations show they are \u201cripping off\u201d the United States. He has recently landed accords with Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and, most importantly, the European Union.<\/p>\n

For dozens of other nations, US \u201creciprocal\u201d tariffs are to jump from 10 percent to various steeper levels come August 1, including powerhouse economies such as South Korea, India and Taiwan.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is \u2018tariff\u2019,\u201d Trump repeatedly said during the 2024 election campaign that returned him to office.<\/p>\n

\u2018Pyrrhic victory\u2019 <\/b><\/p>\n

Despite the headline figures, many economists expect the fallout for the global trade system overall to be limited. US importers may well decide to procure more from American producers as the tariffs are applied, or pass along the higher costs to consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat won\u2019t have a systemic impact\u201d outside the United States, Pascal Lamy, a former WTO chief, told AFP, calling the tariffs a \u201cPyrrhic victory\u201d for Trump.<\/p>\n

He noted that Trump is targeting only the US deficits for goods and not services, \u201cthe part of global trade that is increasing the fastest\u201d. \u201cYou need to change your outlook when it comes to international trade,\u201d Lamy said, adding that \u201cDonald Trump has a medieval view\u201d of the issue.<\/p>\n

And instead of making a country more prosperous, the accepted economic wisdom is that by making goods more expensive, tariffs weigh on economic growth for everyone involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting up your own tariffs is not a way to make yourself richer \u2014 that\u2019s something that people have given up on many years ago,\u201d Baldwin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump has not screwed up the entire world trading system yet because the rest of the world hasn\u2019t changed their opinion as to whether trade is good or bad,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd generally speaking, it\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bucking the trend <\/b><\/p>\n

Global trade has risen sharply in recent decades, totalling nearly $24 trillion in 2023, according to WTO figures. US imports represent just 13 percent of overall imports \u2014 meaning the vast majority of international commerce will not be directly affected by Trump\u2019s levies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s significant, but it\u2019s only a small part of imports worldwide, and the rest of the world still wants the system of engagement and interdependence to work,\u201d said Elvire Fabry, a specialist in geopolitical economics at the Jacques Delors Institute.<\/p>\n

Several countries have moved in recent years to forge new trade deals, a trend Trump\u2019s tariffs blitz could accelerate. In March, Japan, South Korea and China pledged to speed up negotiations on an accord, while Brazil\u2019s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has called for a deal between the Mercosur Latin America bloc and Japan.<\/p>\n

The European Union has also signed a free-trade deal with Mercosur, though its ratification has been held up, in particular by France over concerns about unfair agriculture competition.<\/p>\n

The EU has also relaunched efforts to secure a deal with Malaysia and countries in Central Asia. In April, the WTO said world merchandise trade would fall 0.2 percent this year before a \u201cmodest\u201d recovery to growth of 2.5 percent in 2026.<\/p>\n

But those forecasts took into account only the tariffs Trump had announced up to then \u2014 not the more severe levels he has threatened to put in place starting August 1 for countries that have not signed deals with Washington.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. President Donald Trump has succeeded in strong-arming nations to accept higher tariffs on US exports, yet for now experts see little threat to the postwar trend of lower duties in the pursuit of greater wealth all around. Since World War II, most politicians and economists view free trade as a pillar of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":59756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-59757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump's Tariffs Win but Global Trade System Holds - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Donald Trump has succeeded in strong-arming nations to accept higher tariffs on US exports, yet for now expert ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/trumps-tariffs-win-but-global-trade-system-holds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump's Tariffs Win but Global Trade System Holds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Donald Trump has succeeded in strong-arming nations to accept higher tariffs on US exports, yet for now expert ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/trumps-tariffs-win-but-global-trade-system-holds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-31T08:18:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-31T08:29:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/07\/sm_1753934226.820463.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"479\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/trumps-tariffs-win-but-global-trade-system-holds#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/trumps-tariffs-win-but-global-trade-system-holds\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Trump’s Tariffs Win but Global Trade System Holds\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-31T08:18:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-31T08:29:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/trumps-tariffs-win-but-global-trade-system-holds\"},\"wordCount\":718,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/trumps-tariffs-win-but-global-trade-system-holds#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/07\/sm_1753934226.820463.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/trumps-tariffs-win-but-global-trade-system-holds#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/trumps-tariffs-win-but-global-trade-system-holds\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/trumps-tariffs-win-but-global-trade-system-holds\",\"name\":\"Trump's Tariffs Win but Global Trade System Holds - 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