#non-tariff-measures

#non-tariff-measures

The World Bank's recent report argues that government intervention, when done right, can actually be an essential ingredient of economic success, reversing decades of opposition to industrial policy.

"We worked hard," WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said, adding that the US and Brazil in particular "need more time" to work out their differences over the agreement to impose levies on cross-border online orders.

The International Monetary Fund has warned mounting geopolitical tensions and an escalation of Donald Trump's tariff war could hit global economic growth and trigger a backlash in financial markets. In an update as Trump threatens to impose tariffs on Nato allies opposed to his ambitions in Greenland, the Washington-based fund said a renewed eruption in trade tensions was among the biggest risks to global growth in 2026.

Trump previously said he was implementing the new baseline duty under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which grants the president unilateral ability to impose tariffs. But the untested legal provision puts a 150-day limit on how long the duties can remain in place. Congress would need to approve any extension. The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision handed down earlier Friday, ruled that Trump's use of a decades-old federal emergency-powers law to impose his so-called "reciprocal" tariffs was unlawful.

That's after Trump attempted to use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act for the first time as a vehicle for imposing tariffs, when he unveiled his "Liberation Day" duties last year. The tariffs were quickly challenged in court. While arguing the case last spring, Justice Department lawyers acknowledged that if the tariffs were deemed unlawful, then the government would issue refunds to the plaintiffs.