US 'tariff theater' fuels divide

Global trade restructuring after move as China anchors multilateralism: Experts

Global trade is not collapsing under mounting protectionism, but instead undergoing a profound and uncoordinated restructuring, US experts say.

As the United States continues to use tariffs as a form of "political theater" to address domestic grievances, the rest of the world is moving toward a new, decentralized multilateralism, they said. This shift is being driven by a "domino effect" of regional agreements, with China playing a pivotal role in helping stabilize the global trading system, they added.

During a presentation on April 29 at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, Richard Baldwin, a professor at IMD Business School, said current trade frictions between the world's two largest economies are a long-term rather than a temporary episode.