WTO in Survival Mode Pushes Back on Splintering Global Trade

  • Trade tensions between US and China are affecting trade flows
  • WTO chief urges greater cooperation and economic integration

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg
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Fragmentation of the global economy into separate blocs would be “extremely costly” and make the world a less stable place, the World Trade Organization said in a report published Tuesday.

The report, which notes that geopolitical tensions among major economies are beginning to affect trade flows, offers a counter argument to the ascendant view that the last quarter century of global economic integration was a mistake.