Like-minded global leaders who believe that, in an interdependent world, we have to coordinate economic policies across continents if we are to safeguard jobs and living standards.”
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for an ‘economic coalition of the willing’ and closer EU ties to take on Trump’s tariffs, which he said threaten both the economic and geopolitical orders.
The President’s decision to engage in a trade war and impose sweeping tariffs has resulted in market turmoil and sell-offs sparking trillions in losses across the world.
Yesterday, in a major U-turn, Trump announced a 90-day pause for countries hit by higher US tariffs, however he said he was authorising a universal “lowered reciprocal tariff of 10%” as negotiations continued. Despite his policy reversal, the trade war with China continued too. Trump increased tariffs on goods from China to 125%, accusing Beijing of a “lack of respect” after it retaliated by saying it would impose tariffs of 84% on US imports.
Amid an upending of global trade policy, Brown, writing in the Guardian, has called for a coalition of the willing to take on Trump’s tariffs: “Like-minded global leaders who believe that, in an interdependent world, we have to coordinate economic policies across continents if we are to safeguard jobs and living standards.”
Reflecting on lessons learnt during the 2008 financial crisis, Brown said that ‘extended credit to exporting and importing firms was central to the global response’.
Alongside calling for a coordinated response to tackle the problems posed by the tariffs, Brown also called for the UK to work more closely with the EU, adding: “Indeed, the changes under way in Europe make possible a collaboration that is even more extensive than removing post-Brexit trade barriers. There has always been a tension between Europe’s desire to lead, which makes it bold, and its desire to stay united, which makes it timid, but today Europe has lower inflation than the US, and it can reduce interest rates faster.”
In a stinging criticism of Trump, Brown wrote that the “world is being brought to its knees by one economy, outside which live 96% of the population, who produce 84% of the world’s manufactured goods”.
He called for a coordinated effort to reduce interest rates as well as mobilising the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to ‘protect poorer nations where their industries could be decimated by tariffs’.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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