(MENAFN- Swissinfo) The World Trade Organisation (WTO) expects world trade to grow by 0.9% this year, better than expected in April. US imports surged in the first quarter as a result of Donald Trump's tariff announcements. This content was published on August 9, 2025 - 11:29 3 minutes Keystone-SDA

• Français fr L'OMC améliore sa prévision du commerce mondial grâce à Trump Original Read more: L'OMC améliore sa prévision du commerce mondial grâce à Trum

Imports to the US rose by 11% in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year, the organisation said in Geneva on Friday. American companies rushed to buy goods from their foreign partners amid uncertainty over the situation following the three-month pause in tariffs decreed by the US President.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

“World trade has shown resilience” in the face of disruption,“including recent tariff increases”, said WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.“The full impact of recent tariff measures, however, has yet to be felt,” she added.

In April, in the midst of the trade war between the United States and China, the WTO was predicting a 0.2% contraction in world trade this year. However, the new tariffs are expected to have a corrective effect in the second half of the year.

The truce between Washington and Beijing and certain exceptions are making a positive contribution. But the new tariffs that came into force on Thursday will have a greater impact on imports into the United States. These are expected to fall by 8.3%.

Asia in first place

And the situation now looks particularly difficult for next year, according to WTO economists. Growth is likely to be 1.8%, compared with a previous estimate of 2.5%.

Another explanation for this year is that the global economic situation is more favourable. The depreciation of the dollar should ease conditions for developing countries. And the fall in oil prices should support growth in the industrialised economies, even if it should reduce demand for imports in oil-rich regions.

By region, Asia will continue to drive world trade, with exports up by 4.9% and imports up by 3.3%. European exports are set to fall by 0.9%.

Adapted from French by DeepL/ac

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at ... .

Popular Stories More Climate adaptation Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world Read more: Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the worl

MENAFN09082025000210011054ID1109906905