The Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said President Donald Trump’s tariff policies are being monitored.

According to report, Trump, at an event he tagged ‘Liberation Day’, on Wednesday, slammed a 10% tariff on all goods coming into the United States from all countries of the world.

The president of the United States said, “That ends now,” after other nations exploited America’s generosity and free markets for far too long.

Numerous nations have pledged to retaliate for Trump’s new tariff, including China, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union (EU).

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala urged WTO members to control pressures in order to prevent undermining the benefits earned in global trade in a statement released on Friday.

Trump’s proposed tax will undoubtedly affect international commerce and economic growth expectations, according to the WTO DG.

“The measures announced by the United States on April 2, 2025, are being closely monitored and analyzed by the WTO Secretariat,” it stated. Numerous members have contacted us, and we are actively responding to their inquiries.

The recent announcements will have a significant impact on hopes for economic growth and international trade. Even though the situation is changing quickly, our preliminary estimates indicate that these actions, along with those implemented since the start of the year, may cause global merchandise trade volumes to contract by about 1% overall this year, which would be a downward revision of almost four percentage points from earlier estimates. This decline and the possibility of it turning into a tariff war with a vicious cycle of retaliatory actions that result in even more trade declines worry me greatly.

It’s crucial to keep in mind that the majority of international commerce still occurs under the WTO’s Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) rules, even with these new regulations. According to our latest estimations, this share presently stands at 74%, down from around 80% at the beginning of the year. WTO members must stand together to safeguard these gains.

Significant trade diversion effects could result from trade policies of this size. In order to keep trade tensions from getting worse, I urge Members to carefully handle the pressures that result.

The WTO was created specifically to act as a forum for discussion, to keep trade disputes from getting worse, and to promote a free and stable trading environment. I urge participants to use this platform to actively participate and look for collaborative solutions.