Former WTO head says China-EU ‘united front’ can counter Trump trade curbs
China and the European Union should address their disagreements and form a united front against a “triumphant” Donald Trump, said a former chief of the World Trade Organization, calling the incoming US president a threat to global trade.
Trump will pose problems, not just to China but to the EU and many other US trading partners, said Lamy – also an honorary professor with the China Europe International Business School – in an interview on Saturday in Shanghai.
On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to hike tariffs to between 60 to 100 per cent on Chinese goods, along with a blanket tariff of 10 to 20 per cent on all other US imports. After launching the trade war on China in 2018, around US$300 billion in Chinese goods was slapped with duties in an effort to curb America’s snowballing deficit, and the move triggered retaliatory action from Beijing.
“The 80 per cent of non-US trade powers on this planet, I presume, can still keep trade open among themselves and decide what to do with the US,” Lamy said.
China should talk to other major trading powers and establish a common position … We should build within the WTO a united front against American protectionism
Whatever Washington does, he added, respect for the WTO should motivate others to keep world trade open.