The protectionist measures imposed by the United States are backfiring on both the U.S. itself and global economies, warned Polish economist Witold Olkowski.
The United States' reckless imposition of tariffs has exacerbated global trade tensions and severely disrupted the world economic order, Orlowski said in a recent interview with China Media Group (CMG).
"The economists do not have any doubt that imposing tariffs is actually slowing down the growth everywhere, including the country that started the game. So we see already the International Monetary Fund that scaled down the projections of the forecast of the growth for the whole global economy for the 2025, including the United States. Because it's absolutely clear for the economists that if you start making tariff barriers, then first you punish your own customers because they will pay higher prices. And secondly, given that other countries normally react to it by retaliatory tariffs, you don't get anything. Just everybody is banished. Everybody is growing slower," he said.
While Poland's direct exports to the U.S. remain limited, the professor emphasized that as an EU member, Poland faces indirect impacts through trade partners heavily reliant on American markets. He noted that even the current suspension of new U.S. tariffs on the EU has already caused economic deceleration.
"The International Monetary Fund has already said that because of what has happened already. So this tariff is being suspended and not being introduced extra tariffs. There is at least half a percentage point of the slowdown in the global growth and almost one percent growth slower in the United States and in the European Union. So if it continues, if there is no success in negotiations, then we have even a bigger drop in the economic growth worldwide," said Orlowski.
Protectionist tariffs create "lose-lose" for all economies: Polish economist
Protectionist tariffs create "lose-lose" for all economies: Polish economist
