“Including similar measures on exports, the total trade affected was worth about $ 2,966 billion (more than three times the $888 billion recorded in the previous report),” said the WTO Director-General’s latest annual overview of developments in the international trading environment.
The US imposed tariffs on most of its trade partners earlier this year, ranging from 10-41% with those on India doubled to 50% in August due to its energy purchases from Russia.
As per the report, over the same period, WTO members and observers also introduced a large number of new trade-facilitating measures on goods – 331 in total – covering trade estimated at $2,090 billion (approximately 1.5 times higher than the $1,441 billion recorded in the last report).
“The sharp jump in the trade coverage of tariffs reflects the increased protectionism we have seen since the start of the year. Nearly a fifth (19.7%) of world imports are now affected by tariffs and other such measures introduced since 2009 – compared to 12.6% only a year ago,” said WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and WTO members to use the current trade disruptions to advance long-overdue reforms of the WTO.
The multilateral trade watchdog expects world merchandise trade growth at 2.4% in 2025 and at 0.5% in 2026, with stronger-than-expected trade growth in the first half of 2025 driven by import frontloading, strong demand for AI-related products, and continuing trade growth among most WTO members, particularly developing economies.