International Trade War—-The future of Dollar Hegemony and the WTO

Abstract

The current trade war started by the US by imposing tariffs on the imports coming from China and other countries with an objective of reducing or wiping out the trade deficit of US and to revive the shutdown factories in the US has large reaching ramifications. It is almost 2 years into the war and the resultant effects are becoming visible in the form of global slow down. As the imports into the US will come down, the dollar may depreciate and the value of FOREX reserves held by countries will come down. Resultantly, the demand of USD may come down whereby the pivotal position held by the dollar as vehicle currency will get diluted. Similarly, with the violation of the market and rule-based trading among nations, the WTO may lose its relevance in the present form. The dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO needs to be revamped.