Understanding the crisis in global trading

As the World Trade Organization approaches its 30th birthday on New Year’s Day, 2025, the international trading system is in crisis.

The world’s largest economic blocs — the US, the EU, and China — are locked in an escalating tripartite tariff war. The UK has left the EU’s single market. The Covid pandemic saw unprecedented disruption to the flows of goods around the world. National security and decarbonisation have emerged as…