Exclusive | Ex-WTO head says China-EU ‘united front’ can counter Trump trade curbs

Pascal Lamy has called for China and the EU to resolve their differences and defend global trade together in a second Trump term

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Former head of the World Trade Organization Pascal Lamy has called for China and the EU to unite against likely trade curbs during Donald Trump’s second White House term. Photo: Frank Chen

Published: 11:00pm, 12 Nov 2024Updated: 12:43am, 13 Nov 2024

China and the European Union should address their disagreements and form a united front against a “triumphant” Donald Trump, said a former chief of the World Trade Organization, calling the incoming US president a threat to global trade.

The assessment from Pascal Lamy – director general of the Geneva-based multilateral trade organisation between 2005 and 2013 – comes as worries mount over the future of globalisation after the US presidential election last week. In his first term, Trump paralysed the body’s appellate functions.

Trump will pose problems, not just to China but to the EU and many other US trading partners, said Lamy – also an honorary professor with the China Europe International Business School – in an interview on Saturday in Shanghai.

On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to hike tariffs to between 60 to 100 per cent on Chinese goods, along with a blanket tariff of 10 to 20 per cent on all other US imports.

After launching the trade war on China in 2018, around US$300 billion in Chinese goods was slapped with duties in an effort to curb America’s snowballing deficit, and the move triggered retaliatory action from Beijing.

We should build within the WTO a united front against American protectionism

Pascal Lamy, World Trade Organization (former)

“The 80 per cent of non-US trade powers on this planet, I presume, can still keep trade open among themselves and decide what to do with the US,” Lamy said.