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In a speech final week, Janet L. Yellen, the Treasury secretary, mentioned the pandemic and the struggle had revealed that American provide chains, whereas environment friendly, had been neither safe nor resilient. Whereas cautioning in opposition to “a completely protectionist course,” she mentioned the US ought to work to reorient its commerce relationships towards a big group of “trusted companions,” even when it meant considerably larger prices for companies and customers.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director normal of the World Commerce Group, mentioned in a speech on Wednesday that the struggle had “justifiably” added to questions on financial interdependence. However she urged international locations not to attract the flawed conclusions in regards to the international buying and selling system, saying it had helped drive international development and offered international locations with essential items even throughout the pandemic.
“Whereas it’s true that international provide chains could be susceptible to disruptions, commerce can also be a supply of resilience,” she mentioned.
The W.T.O. has argued in opposition to export bans for the reason that early days of the pandemic, when international locations together with the US started throwing up restrictions on exporting masks and medical items and eliminated them solely steadily.
Now, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered an identical wave of bans targeted on meals. “It’s like déjà vu over again,” Mr. Evenett mentioned.
Protectionist measures have cascaded from nation to nation in a fashion that’s significantly evident on the subject of wheat. Russia and Ukraine export greater than 1 / 4 of the world’s wheat, feeding billions of individuals within the type of bread, pasta and packaged meals.
Mr. Evenett mentioned the present wave of commerce obstacles on wheat had begun because the struggle’s protagonists, Russia and Belarus, clamped down on exports. The international locations that lie alongside a serious buying and selling route for Ukrainian wheat, together with Moldova, Serbia and Hungary, then started limiting their wheat exports. Lastly, main importers with meals safety issues, like Lebanon, Algeria and Egypt, put their very own bans into impact.
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