All will lose: U.N. chief warns amidst growing global trade war

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that “all will lose” when countries get into trade wars, against the backdrop of tariff wars unleashed by the Mr. Trump administration.

“I think we live in a global economy. Everything is interlinked. And obviously, one of the great advantages of having a situation of free trade is to create the conditions for all countries to benefit. When we enter into a trade war, I believe all will lose,” Mr. Guterres said in United Nations on Wednesday (March 12, 2025).

He was responding to a question on the growing global trade war. U.S. President Donald Trump, in his second term in the White House, has said America will impose reciprocal tariffs on nations that charge high levies on U.S. goods.

The Trump administration’s global tariffs on steel and aluminum have come into effect, prompting the European Union (EU) and Canada to also announce levies on U.S. products. The administration has also announced tariff on imports from Canada, Mexico and China. In a retaliatory action, these countries have also announced tariffs on goods imported from the United States.

Mr. Trump has said America is “going to take in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs”, and “we are going to become so rich, you are not going to know where to spend all that money. I am telling you, you just watch. We are going to have jobs. We are going to have open factories. It is going to be great”.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly called out India for the high tariffs that it imposes on American products. Last week, he criticised the high tariffs charged by India and other countries, terming them “very unfair”, and announced that reciprocal tariffs will kick in next month on nations that impose levies on American goods. Mr. Trump has said America has been “ripped off” for decades by nearly every country on earth, and “we will not let that happen any longer”.

“If you do not make your product in America, however, under the Mr. Trump administration, you will pay a tariff and in some cases, a rather large one. Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades and now, it is our turn to start using them against those other countries. On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India, Mexico and Canada…. And countless other nations charge us tremendously-higher tariffs than we charge them,” Mr. Trump has said.

“It is very unfair. India charges us auto tariffs higher than 100%. China’s average tariff on our products is twice what we charge them. And South Korea’s average tariff is four times higher…. This is happening by friend and foe,” the U.S. President has said.