“If we have eye reprisals for an eye, be it a 25% (or) tariff of 60% and return to where we were in the 30s, we will see losses of the two -digit world GDP. It is catastrophic. Everyone He will pay, “said the WTO head at the Annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss town of Davos.
Okonjo-Iweala made a parallel with the period between the two world wars, when countries adopted commercial restrictions in response to an American tariff law of 1930.
“We have seen this movie, as I said, in other places in the 30s with the Smoot-Hawley law. It worsened things,” he said.
“We are telling our members a lot that have other ways, even if a tariff is imposed, please keep calm,” he added, while asking the states to evaluate their options and use the organism system for Solve disputes.
This system only works partially since the end of 2019, when Trump’s repeated vetoes to the appointments of judges incapacitated their highest Court of Appeals.
Okonjo-Iweala said he feels “encouraged” by Trump’s decision to refrain from immediately imposing tariffs on imports from countries such as Canada and Mexico, instead opting to order research on commercial practices.
