World Events Summary: 27th February – 5th March 2018

Tariffs/Trump: the announcement by Trump that he intends to impose a tariff of 25% on steel imports (10% on aluminum) was greeted by a chorus of dissenting voices. Multilateral organisations (especially the WTO) claimed it would retard growth, while Republican leaders in Congress repeatedly called for a re-think. The world is waiting to see whether the rhetoric is followed-through. 

NAFTA: with the renegotiation process taking longer than expected it should be no surprise that Trump linked a NAFTA agreement to potential exemptions from metal tariffs for Canada and Mexico. 

WTO: one dangerous aspect of the tariff decision comes from the use of national security legislation and the WTO national security exemption. If other countries take this as a precedent then it could result in the end of the existing trade order rather quickly. The EU, Mexico, China and others have indicated that some kind of retaliation would be implemented, should Trump go through with it.