Trade war enters more dangerous phase

SINGAPORE (Dec 9): Last week was not a good one for world trade and it is only going to get worse.

Given the unrelenting trend of growing restrictions on trade in the past two years, it is quite certain that the aggressive trade measures announced by the US recently will trigger tit-for-tat measures by others. Since there is no longer an effective global framework to resolve the fundamental differences among nations that lie behind this descent into protectionism, smaller countries in our region will have to fend for themselves. This calls for a deeper rethink of how trade-dependent countries should formulate policy res ponses to better protect themselves in this more unforgiving world.