World Trade Organisation director-general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Thursday, urged countries to keep calm over tariffs, warning that a tit-for-tat trade war would be “catastrophic” for the world economy.
Okonjo-Iweala issued her appeal during a panel discussion on tariffs at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in a week that saw US President Donald Trump threaten tariffs against China, the European Union, Mexico and Canada.
The WTO director-general urged cooler heads to prevail, quipping: “Please let’s not hyperventilate. I know we are here to discuss tariffs. I’ve been saying to everybody: could we chill, also. I just sense a lot of hyperventilation.”
She recalled the fallout from the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in the United States during the Great Depression in 1930, which prompted retaliation and worsened the global economic crisis at the time.
“We are very much saying to our members at the WTO: you have other avenues. Even if a tariff is levied, please keep…
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