Equally egregious is President Trump’s insistence that the tariff increases on steel and aluminium are for an “unlimited period”. In the wake of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, trade partners of the US imposed retaliatory tariffs, restricting access to American products in their markets. The implications of the ill-thought-out plans of the Trump administration on its trade with its partners are getting increasingly clear. This disregard for WTO rules is not something that is new for the Trump administration. But, by initiating this latest move of tariff wars, the Trump administration is challenging the very existence of the post-war rules-based multilateralism, which, despite its limitations, has made efforts to bring order in the way sovereign states engage in trade.

Source: Mint March 11, 2018 18:33 UTC