site.btaEconomic Forum: US President Trump's Policy Attacking World Trade Order Cannot Win

Sofia, July 9 (BTA) - US President Donald Trump's policy attacking the world trade order cannot win and he will give up on some of his ideas by this year's end, said here on Monday former trade and tourism minister Valentin Vassilev during a round table discussion about the challenges facing Bulgarian foreign trade.

The forum, organized by the Bulgarian Academy Sciences' Economic Research Institute, gathered former ministers and deputy ministers of economic sectors from Bulgaria's governments of the past 25 years. The experts' unprecedented meeting is dedicated to the world trade order and the challenges facing Bulgaria's foreign trade in the context of the newly started trade war.

According to Vassilev, the US pressure is aimed mostly at China, which is still not a completely open market. However, Trump cannot win the trade war with Canada and Europe, the former minister said. Many of the investments in US companies are foreign and European, which can leave the country along with a number of manufacturers.

Being a small, but open economy, Bulgaria must monitor the situation, the experts said, adding, however, that it cannot be affected too much, because this country's trade with the US is much smaller than it is with the EU.

The forum's participants expect that there will be negotiations for solving the disputes, because otherwise there is a risk for the global economy to decline. According to them, the trade order can be restored with mutual concessions.

The economists expect GDP growth of the global economy to vary between 3.5 and 3.9 per cent this year. The projections for Bulgaria's economic growth are 3.6 per cent, with the goal being 4 per cent, despite the rising protectionism that is already growing into a trade war. Digitalization has become an irreversible process and e-trade can successfully counter protectionism, as it has doubled in the past five years, the experts noted.