World Bank report shows US tariffs harming itself

THE WORLD BANK has lowered its official forecast for global GDP growth in 2019 to 2.6 percent in its latest Global Economic Prospects report, released semiannually in January and June, and calls on the United States to reflect on the negative effects its unilateralism is having on the global economy, which are also harming itself. China Daily writer Wang Yiqing comments:

In its June 2019 Global Economic Prospects report titled "The Global Economy: Heightened Tensions, Subdued Investment", the World Bank predicts global economic growth this year will slow to 2.6 percent, 0.3 percentage points lower than its last forecast in January and the slowest pace in the past three years. Global trade growth has also slowed to its lowest level since the financial crisis.

The sluggish global economy has much to do with trade disputes provoked by the US, which advocates unilateralism and a rollback of globalization, and the report points out that the stabilization momentum of the global economy is fragile and may be disrupted if the trade disputes between the world's two largest economies escalate.