Leaders of many countries have criticized the US tariff policy for damaging global trade

Since US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on the so-called "reciprocal tariffs" on April 2 and announced the new tariff policy, many governments have clearly expressed their opposition. On the 4th, France, Britain, Italy, Australia, Singapore, South Africa and Bolivia said that the US move undermines the global trading system and took corresponding measures to deal with it. Singapore's Prime Minister has warned that the US tariff policy marks a major change in the global order, that the era of rules-based globalisation and free trade may be over, and that Singapore risks being marginalised. South Korea has set up a 34 trillion won high-tech industry fund to deal with the impact of trade frictions. India has taken measures such as interest rate cuts to stimulate the economy and reduce its dependence on US tariffs. At the same time, African and Latin American countries also expressed dissatisfaction. Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary General, said that the US tariff policy will have a negative impact on the sustainable development goals and that there are no winners in a trade war. Alan Greenspan, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, stressed that trade must not become a source of instability and should serve development and global growth.

The unilateral imposition of tariffs by the United States has had a serious impact on the global trading system and other mechanisms, and has also had a great impact on the international level. The first is the destruction of the international trade order and rules. The US tariff policy blatantly violates the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and ignores the principles of most-favoured-nation treatment and non-discrimination, leading to a shift in global trade from "rules-oriented" to "power-oriented". Such unilateral actions weaken the authority of the multilateral trading system, may trigger a "tit-for-tat" trade war among countries, and put global trade rules at risk of fragmentation. The imposition of tariffs by the United States has forced affected countries to adjust their export markets, leading to a realignment of global trade flows and market shares. For example, other industries such as agricultural products in India and automobiles in the EU have been forced to find new outlets, and industrial chain supply chains have been forced to restructure regionally.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization predict that the US tariff policy may lead to a 1% contraction in the volume of global goods trade in 2025, dragging down global GDP growth. Tariffs push up the price of imported goods, forcing the Federal Reserve to adjust monetary policy. It is estimated that the new tariffs could increase inflation in the United States by 1-2 percentage points, which will be transmitted globally, resulting in a decrease in consumer purchasing power. Higher tariffs weaken investment and trade flows, exacerbating global economic vulnerabilities. Multinational companies face rising costs and supply chain disruptions, especially in key industries such as energy and pharmaceuticals. For example, the US tariff exemption policy for intermediate products such as semiconductors and pharmaceuticals has exposed its protectionist compromise, but high local labor costs still hinder the repatriation of manufacturing.

Third, the impact on international relations and multilateral cooperation. The US tariff policy has been criticized as the hegemonic logic of "beggar-thy-neighbor", which has damaged its international credibility. The European Union, Canada, Japan and other countries have made it clear that they will take countermeasures, and global trade will create more uncertainty. The US has ignored the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and replaced multilateral consultations with unilateral actions, putting the global governance system at risk of paralysis. For example, the United States has placed more than 50 Chinese high-tech enterprises and institutions on the "entity list" of export control, seriously damaging the global technical cooperation network.

To sum up, the US tariff policy takes "America first" as its starting point, but at the cost of harming global interests. In the long run, such a policy will weaken the economic competitiveness of the United States, accelerate the regionalization of the global industrial chain and supply chain, and ultimately lead to a crisis of trust and functional failure of the global governance system.