Global Trade Watch 2018 : Trade Amid Tensions
Global trade growth slowed in 2018 amid a weakening of economic growth in China and the Euro Area and rising trade protectionism. The volume of trade grew by 3.8 percent, down from 5.4 percent in 2017, but has shown signs of reviving in the first q...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/549841559120768022/Trade-Amid-Tensions http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31742 |
| Summary: | Global trade growth slowed in 2018 amid
a weakening of economic growth in China and the Euro Area
and rising trade protectionism. The volume of trade grew by
3.8 percent, down from 5.4 percent in 2017, but has shown
signs of reviving in the first quarter of 2019. However, the
U.S. tariff increases implemented in early May and China’s
response might change the outlook. Trade policy developments
are mixed. Restrictive trade measures imposed during 2018
affected 3.8 percent of world merchandise trade, nearly
three times the share affected in any of the years since the
global financial crisis of 2009. Tit-for-tat tariffs between
the United States and China alone affected 2.0 percent of
world merchandise trade in 2018. Ongoing trade tensions
affected importers in United States and China significantly.
While trade fell in targeted products, prices at the border
did not change as compared with non-targeted products. Even
though trade in stickier inputs tends to be relatively
resilient in the short term, if trade tensions are not
resolved, existing global value chains are likely to be
disrupted in the longer term. It is in the long-term
interest of industrial and developing countries for trade
tensions to be resolved through a multilateral approach and
World Trade Organization reforms. |
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