From the Website of United Nations
links https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/04/1162081
Spare developing countries from new US tariffs: UN trade chief
As
governments and global markets struggle to deal with the deep concerns
and disruptions caused by volatility over trade tariffs, Rebeca Grynspan, the head of the UN trade and development agency (UNCTAD),
told UN News on Thursday that the poorest countries – whose activities
have a negligible effect on trade deficits – should be exempt.
On Tuesday, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated that “trade wars are extremely negative,” and warned that the impact of tariffs could be “devastating.”
Tariffs are a tax on imports coming into a country which are usually charged to the exporter as a percentage of value – an extra cost which is normally passed on to the consumer.
In an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday morning, the UNCTAD chief appealed for the US to reconsider its strategy, noting that the 44 Least Developed Countries contribute less than two per cent of the US’s trade deficit, and that higher tariffs would only make their existing debt crisis much worse.
Speaking to UN News, Ms. Grynspan laid out the ways that UNCTAD is supporting developing nations, and advocated for closer regional trade ties, which can strengthen their hand in international trade negotiations.
UN News: The world's two biggest economies, the US and China, are in the process of imposing or threatening huge trade tariffs on each other. How worried do you think we should all be?
Rebeca Grynspan: When the two main global economies impose tariffs, it will affect everybody, not only the economies engaged in the tariff war. We are already in a “new normal” of low growth and high debt, and we are worried that the global economy will slow down.
Our emphasis has been to put attention on what can happen to countries that are more vulnerable, such as the Least Developed Countries, and small island developing States. What is happening to those countries is what really worries us.
UN
News: Some experts are saying that this could be the end of the
post-war international financial system. Are those fears warranted?
Rebeca
Grynspan: We still don't know where we will end up. One of the things
that we are doing is trying to give the public a real account of what is
actually taking place, and what is still just talk.
The most
important point is the problem of the uncertainty. If we know the final
position, we will adjust, we will have strategies and we can see how to
live with the decisions that are being taken. But if we have a prolonged
period of uncertainty, where things change all the time, this is
damaging because we don't know what to do. Investment is paralyzed
because CEOs are deciding to sit and wait, which means investment will
not come back at the scale the world needs.
Our first call is for
rational decisions to be taken, so we can plan, strategize and adapt to
change – but we still don’t know what that change will entail.
UN
News: You've made the case for poorer countries to be spared tariff
hikes imposed by the US administration. Are your concerns being heard?
Rebeca
Grynspan: I haven't seen anybody making the analysis that we have made,
proving that these countries really are making no contribution to the
US trade deficit. Most of the exports that they send to the US are
commodities and many of these are exempt from tariffs under the new
rules. These commodities don't compete with the US, rather they help in
production processes.
The point I want to make is that there are a
number of countries that don’t really contribute to the deficit, are
not important in terms of the revenue [that the US can collect from
tariffs] and are not competition or a national security threat to the
US.
So, maybe we can avoid starting new bilateral agreements and negotiations and spare them the pain of the tariffs.
UN News: What advice could you give to a manufacturing worker in a developing country like Viet Nam or Madagascar?
Rebeca
Grynspan: It's difficult to say, because some countries are receiving
higher tariffs than others, and so you don't know what competitive
impact this will have.
Madagascar is a good example of what we’re
talking about, because the country’s main export to the US is vanilla.
Their contribution to the US trade deficit is so small it doesn’t even
register, so it makes no sense to penalise a country like this.
UN News: Explain the role that UNCTAD plays in supporting developing countries?
Rebeca
Grynspan: As an organization, we analyse trade, investment, financing
and technology from the point of view of development, which means we
help countries to take advantage of the opportunities of trade.
We
are not involved in trade negotiations – these take place at the World
Trade Organization – but we will help developing countries to get a
better deal in trade and help their economies to perform better
globally.
UN News: You have advocated for developing countries to
trade more within regional blocs where they can have more say in
negotiations with richer countries. Would that be useful in this kind of
situation?
Rebeca Grynspan: Africa has a huge opportunity with
the African Free Trade Area. According to our numbers, this could add
around $3 trillion to the African economy.
It’s a huge
opportunity, and if they can accelerate the pace, they could take
advantage of a bigger market and make economies of scale. African
nations need to diversify their economies because, if they continue to
be dependent on commodities, they won't be able to provide their
populations with the services and the income they deserve.
There
is also a deepening of trade relationships in Southeast Asia with ASEAN
(the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and in parts of Latin
America with Mercosur (the Southern Common Market).
These partnerships could be very important, particularly at this precise moment.
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