Tariff Trouble: Will protectionism wreck the global economy?

In the aftermath of Global Financial Crisis, slow growth and stagnant real wages have led to a rise in economic nationalism across the world. The victory of Trump in the US, the vote for Brexit in the UK and the rise of populist parties across the majority of western democracies all point towards a decline in public support for globalisation and free trade. Given the important role that economists attribute to international trade as a driver of global growth, this is a worrying development.

How is global trade performing? How damaging will the trade tariffs already introduced be? How serious is the threat of an escalating trade war?  Chaired by Kevin Daly, Co-head of CEEMEA Economic, Goldman Sachs, these are some of the questions that our panel of experts will address at the SPE’s July evening meeting.

Richard Price is the Chief Economist and Director of Analysis at the Department for International Trade. Previous roles include Chief Economist at the Home Office, Strategy Adviser to the Permanent Secretary of the Home Office, Project Director at the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, head of the Treasury’s Enterprise and Business team, Chief Economist at Defra and Chief Executive at the Office of Road and Rail.

Rebecca Harding is CEO at Coriolois TradeTech and co-author of “The Weaponisation of Trade”. Previous roles include Chief Economist at the British Bankers Association, founder and CEO of Delta Economics, Senior Fellow at London Business School, CEO of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor worldwide, Head of Corporate Research at Deloitte and Chief Economist at the Work Foundation.

Kamakshya Trivedi is co-head of Global Foreign Exchange and Emerging Markets Strategy at Goldman Sachs. His research focus spans macroeconomics, corporate finance and economics of emerging markets. Previously, he was chief Emerging Markets macro strategist and senior economist in the Global Markets Research Group. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2007 and was named managing director in 2013.

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