The impact of the tariff tensions initiated by the Donald Trump Administration was “relatively contained” in the first half of 2025, when the world trade It grew by 2.5% and expanded by $500 billion, UN Trade and Development (Unctad) highlighted this Thursday.
- For the third quarter, Unctad forecasts similar growth, of around 2.5%, in the trade of goods and even higher, more than 4%, in services, despite the fact that in the first quarter there was even a decreasing trend, the organization’s latest statistics indicated.
UNCTAD highlighted that the trade In the first half of 2025 it was mainly driven by developing economies, offsetting the slowdown in US imports.
“It is expected that for the rest of 2025 global trade maintain its resilience and reach record numbers at the end of the year” despite the turbulence coming from North America, Unctad assessed.
Imports
In the second quarter, imports in the US fell by 16%, those in Brazil by 4% and those in South Africa by 1%, while those in China and Japan rose by 4%, those in the European Union rose by 2% and those in Russia by 8%.
As for imports, they only fell in Brazil (2%) and South Africa (1%), growing by 3% in the US, Russia, Japan and India and a little less, 1%, in China and the European Union, always according Unctad. EFE
