Market Speaks: WTO says around 19% of global merchandise trade affected by tariff measures

World Trade Organization or WTO has stated yesterday that a sharp rise in new tariffs and the share of world trade covered by them between October 2024 and May 2025 have contributed to a volatile and unpredictable global trade landscape, the WTO Secretariat’s latest Trade Monitoring Update finds. At the same time, despite the backdrop of trade policy uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and regional conflicts, it sees intensifying engagement in pursuit of negotiated solutions to trade-related differences.

The value of global merchandise trade covered by new tariffs and other such measures implemented during the seven-month review period was estimated at US$ 2,732.7 billion (more than triple the US$ 887.6 billion in the 12-month period covered by the previous report, issued in late 2024). This amount represents the highest level of trade coverage by such new measures recorded in one reporting period since the WTO Secretariat started monitoring trade policy developments in 2009.

Since WTO monitoring started in 2009, many such measures have been introduced and never withdrawn. This gave rise over time to a growing stockpile of measures which, in recent years, has affected between 10 and 12.5 per cent of world merchandise imports. The WTO Secretariat estimates that as of mid-May, the figure had jumped to 19.4 per cent.

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