The Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve issued dire warnings about their economies.
U.S. meat exporters are facing severe impacts from trade disruption, with 25 per of pork production, 15 per cent of chicken and 13 per cent of beef exported.
In January the World Trade Organization anticipated trade would grow by 2.7 per cent but now predicts in January 0.2 per cent.
In a statement, the organization said “severe downside risks exist” to the forecasts, including potential for President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs on scores of countries to return in July after a 90-day pause.
Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that the “enduring uncertainty threatens to act as a brake on global growth.”
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell this week said that U.S. tariffs so far are “significantly larger” than expected. “The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth,” he said.
The Bank of Canada said it’s impossible to make predictions amid the current trade tension with the U.S., which has placed 25 per cent tariffs steel and aluminum and threatens 25 per cent on autos and auto parts.
It said that a negotiated removal of U.S. tariffs would allow a restoration of modest growth this year, while a longer global trade war would inflict both a significant recession and a spike in consumer prices.
