The US protectionist measures have raised serious concerns about a global trade war. With the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo raising an alarm on this at the two-day mini-ministerial in New Delhi early this week, it is high time countries across the world should think beyond retaliatory measures to counter the challenges posed by the targeting of the WTO by the US and unilateral increase in tariffs.
“India can play a significant role in guiding this exercise to defuse the emerging possibilities of a global trade war that can derail the positive outlook in the world trade,” said Mr. Rashesh Shah, President, FICCI.
Mr. Shah added that, “Commerce and Industry minister Suresh Prabhu has shown, not only by holding the mini-ministerial in New Delhi at this crucial juncture, but also by turning it into a platform for ‘meeting of minds’, that India can lead in bringing together all the countries to find a way out to avoid fuelling of a trade war due to the US actions”.“It is important to keep the WTO process going and also making the multilateral institution stronger so that a rule-based global trade is ensured and bilateral issues have an effective platform for resolution,” he said.