11 July 2018
- RSIS
- Media Mentions
- Trump’s Protectionism: What Future For US Trade Policy? – Analysis
Trump’s Protectionism: What Future For US Trade Policy? – Analysis
Despite threats of retaliation from its longstanding allies and trading partners, the Trump administration has not only maintained its protectionist stance but has in effect triggered an incipient trade war. Trump’s protectionism is clearly becoming the axis of conflicts in the current global trading system and generating fears of a full-blown trade war across countries.
On 6 July 2018, the European Union (EU) announced that it may respond to Trump’s steel tariffs with a provisional safeguard on steel imports in July. Once formally adopted, such measure could adversely hit major steel exporters, such as China, India, Korea, Russia, and Turkey. Trump will not change his stance easily until he clearly recognises the political and economic costs of his protectionism. Unfortunately, this will destabilise the global trading system.
… Su-Hyun Lee is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS) of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.
CMS / Online
