Global trade conducted under WTO terms has dropped to 72% and may decline further, marking the largest upheaval in the international trade system in 80 years, stated the Director-General of the World Trade Organization on Tuesday.
Following the imposition of higher import tariffs by US President Donald Trump on most of America’s trading partners this year, the share of global trade under the WTO’s ‘most favoured nation’ (MFN) terms has decreased from about 80%, according to WTO data. This principle mandates that WTO members treat each other equally.
“We’re witnessing the most significant disruption to global trade rules in the past 80 years,” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters during an interview at the onset of her second term leading the Geneva-based trade organization.
“It’s not surprising that some question the global trading system and its predictability,” she added, “but as long as the majority of trade remains under MFN terms, we should celebrate. We’re far from 50%.”
Okonjo-Iweala cautioned that tariffs might affect global trade “later into 2026” as the recent spike in global commerce, driven by early stocking of goods during the year’s first half, begins to wane.
This situation led to the WTO adjusting its global trade growth forecast from 0.2% to 0.9% in August.
“Perhaps down the line, we may notice other impacts as warehouse inventories deplete, but we’ll see next year. We still expect some growth,” she mentioned.
