Holding the line on the existing rules-based international trading system remains an essential challenge if the world is the keep a damaging tariff war at bay, a top UN trade official said on Monday.

Addressing the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s 195 Member States in Geneva, Rebeca Grynspan said that 72 per cent of global trade “still moves under WTO rules” – a reference to the World Trade Organization, whose agreements are negotiated and signed by trading nations.

“We have for now avoided the domino effect of tariff escalation that once brought the world economy to its knees in the 1930s,” Ms. Grynspan told UNCTAD members gathering in Geneva to continue efforts to lift millions out of poverty through trade.

“This didn’t happen by accident, it happened because of you, because you ke

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