Category: international trade
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IMF’s Tariff Warning: Protectionism’s Hidden Drag on Global Growth
The International Monetary Fund’s October 2025 World Economic Outlook delivers a clear warning: the world may be entering an era where resilience masks erosion. While global GDP held up in early 2025, the IMF notes that persistent tariff barriers and protectionist impulses are slowly undermining the structural drivers of long-term…
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China’s Textile Pivot: How U.S. Tariffs Are Redrawing the Global Fabric of Fashion Trade
A New Route in the Global Supply Chain China’s textile exports to the European Union have surged sharply in 2025, as U.S. tariffs forced Chinese manufacturers to reroute their goods toward Europe. According to data from Euratex, the European textiles body, imports of Chinese clothing and textiles rose by 20%…
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Small Businesses and U.S. Export Growth: Between Resilience and Structural Shifts
The Unsung Backbone The story of U.S. exports is not only about global corporations but also about the vast network of small businesses that quietly fuel America’s trade engine. Nearly 97% of U.S. exporters are small firms, and their contribution extends beyond numbers—they embody productivity, resilience, and innovation. Historically, American…
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Why Global Imbalances Do Matter
For much of the post-war era, global economic policymakers debated whether large current account surpluses and deficits were merely accounting quirks or deeper reflections of systemic fragility. Each time the world experienced a financial shock—from the Latin American debt crises of the 1980s to the Asian financial crisis of 1997,…
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AI and Global Trade: The Next Great Transformation
When the World Trade Organization projects that artificial intelligence could drive a 40% jump in global trade by 2040, it is not making a casual forecast—it is signaling a structural transformation comparable to the invention of the steam engine or the internet. The implications are profound, particularly for MSMEs in…
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When a Virtuous Cycle Risks Turning Vicious: India Under Trump’s Trade Lens
India’s economy has often been described as a “virtuous cycle” — a loop where rising domestic demand fuels investment, which in turn creates jobs, higher incomes, and stronger consumption. For years, this cycle has been reinforced by India’s services exports, particularly in information technology, business process outsourcing, and skilled professional…
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Trade Policies, Tariffs, and Global Export Shifts
In today’s global economy, trade policies and tariffs have emerged as decisive forces shaping export flows, investment patterns, and the competitive landscape of industries. The recent escalation of tariffs by the United States on Chinese goods, along with continuing tensions between the EU and the U.S., demonstrates how political and…
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India–U.S. Trade Relations in Turmoil: The Hidden Depth of the Crisis
India’s trade relationship with the United States has entered one of its most challenging phases in recent years. What began as targeted tariffs has now snowballed into a broad-based crisis, with severe implications for multiple industries and long-term economic ties. The collapse of smartphone exports to America is only the…
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U.S. Tariffs on Indian Exports: A Shock and a Wake-Up Call
The recent imposition of 50% tariffs on Indian exports by the United States, linked to India’s discounted oil purchases from Russia, has once again highlighted how geopolitics and trade policy intersect. According to estimates, India’s economic growth could take a hit of nearly 0.8 percentage points, a non-trivial impact for…