GENEVA, Switzerland – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), has expressed deep concern over the recent tariffs imposed by the United States, calling them a potential threat to global trade and economic growth.
On April 2, 2025, President Donald Trump announced a sweeping set of global tariffs, including a 14 percent tariff on imports from Nigeria.
Okonjo-Iweala, in a statement released on Thursday, April 3, 2025, emphasized that the WTO secretariat is closely monitoring the situation and actively engaging with its members who have reached out with concerns regarding the impact of these measures on their economies.
Okonjo-Iweala stated that the new tariffs, combined with other measures implemented earlier in the year, could lead to a global contraction of around 1% in global merchandise trade volumes for 2025.
This represents a nearly four-percentage point downward revision from earlier projections.
“While the situation is rapidly evolving, our initial estimates suggest that these measures could have substantial implications for global trade and economic growth prospects,” she said.
The WTO chief raised concerns about the potential for escalating trade tensions that could lead to a retaliatory cycle of tariffs.
This could further harm global trade and create greater uncertainty.
She pointed out that despite the new tariffs, most global trade still flows under the WTO’s Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) terms, although this share has dropped from 80% at the beginning of the year to about 74% now.
“We must all stand together to safeguard these gains,” she added, calling on WTO members to manage the pressures arising from these new trade measures responsibly to prevent further escalation of tensions.
Okonjo-Iweala reiterated that the WTO was created to serve as a platform for dialogue and cooperation in such situations, offering the international community an opportunity to work together to prevent trade conflicts from spiraling out of control.
