INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
PARIS: With Italy in political turmoil, oil prices on the rise and North Korea tensions back on the burner, the last thing the global
economy needs is a big lurch towards a trade war further clouding the outlook.
But that is exactly what the Trump administration faces if it
does not extend temporary exemptions on steel and aluminium imports from Europe that expire on Thursday.
The Europeans have opportunities
for last minute diplomacy when the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development holds its annual ministerial council in Paris on
Wednesday.
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron is to due to make the case for breathing new life into the international economic
order in a speech before the OECD on Wednesday.
But there are few signs of US appetite for that ahead of talks between US Commerce Secretary
the Americans manage their dialogue with a rival like China the same way as with their allies without special treatment for being a US
restrictions as economies struggled to get back on their feet following the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.
G20 economies have put up
1,400 new trade restrictions over the last decade against only 200 liberalisation measures during the same period, according to an OECD
tally.
OECD chief Angel Gurria said some governments were blaming globalisation, and by extension the broader multilateral trading system,
journalists.
ADVERTISINGThere is little prospect for a quick fix in the trade standoff between Washington and its allies after the Trump
administration opened a new front on Wednesday by also threatening tariffs on auto imports.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will likely
take flak over trade threats from his counterparts from other members of the Group of Seven economies when they meet in the Canadian Rocky
Mountains on Friday and Saturday.
DATA CLUESThe prospect of a trade war is particularly a concern in Europe where the economy is already
just-below-2 per cent target.
Economists in a Reuters poll predict on average that it rebounded to a 13-month high of 1.6 per cent from 1.2
per cent in April.
Among other data on the horizon next week are US non-farm payrolls on Friday for the month of May
