US tariff addiction: a cause of concern to global economy

Jeopardizing global growth

With Washington ramping up pressure on China and other trading partners, analysts worldwide have said such self-inflicted tariff hikes will also give a body blow to the global economy.

Global financial markets are experienced turbulence amid growing concerns on US-China trade frictions.

"We are certainly going to see a significant reduction on the world's functional markets. Look at what has been happening on the equity market for the couple of days," said Dawie Roodt, chief economist at African financial services company Efficient Group.

Such gloom will shroud not only global financial markets but also the real economy, analysts noted.

Tariff hikes "will ripple across the global economy and that will definitely be a drag on growth," said Sarah Hunter, chief economist at Australia's BIS Oxford Economics.

In its latest World Economic Outlook report released in April, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its 2019 global growth forecast to 3.3 percent, down 0.2 percentage point from its estimation in January, saying "the downturn was larger and appeared related to a souring of market sentiment, in part because of trade tensions."

"If investors don't have the feeling that this problem can be solved soon, the appetite for investments ... throughout the world is weakening," said Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission.