Exploitative trade policy calls for 'united front'

On April 9, when US President Donald Trump put a 90-day pause on the hefty "reciprocal" tariffs he had announced the previous week, the administration seemed quite confident that potential trade deals would be reached soon.

Yet the United States has so far only reached a limited deal with the United Kingdom. Now with only a week left before the July 9 tariff deadline arrives, the US and its major trading partners are still engaged in tug-of-war-like trade negotiations. Failure to agree on bilateral trade deals in time could lead to the US administration imposing tariffs of up to 50 percent on goods from many countries. The countermeasures, trade tensions and uncertainty that would inevitably result would then be a further drag on global economic growth.

To prevent that scenario from materializing, countries must seek to resolve their trade differences through dialogue and consultations based on mutual respect and on an equal footing.