Global Trade Faces Risks

    The current trend of rising protectionism is very similar to what before the Great Depression, and several key events may accelerate the global trading system toward a dysfunctional and disorganized direction.

1) WTO aircraft subsidy dispute. A panel of World Trade Organization (WTO) arbitrators will soon determine whether the European Union can fight back against illegal U.S. subsidies in Boeing, and on what scale.

2) The US presidential election. The U.S. presidential election is the most important event in the international trading system this year, if Trump is re-elected, the U.S. is likely to raise tariffs on its trading partners.

 

3) Competition for the Director-General of the WTO. The race for the director-general of the WTO is fierce in itself and swayed by nationalist aspirations and stirred by murky politic.

4) The digital sales tax battle. Policymakers in the U.S. and Europe are heading toward a trade dispute involving tariffs on U.S. tech companies such as Facebook and Google in overseas countries.

5) Brexit. By the end of the year, new major trade barriers will emerge between the UK and the EU. That's because the UK is about to leave the EU’s single market and customs union.

"Roof broken and continuously raining " can describe the current global trade.