Economics professor: US tariffs will damage international economic openness.

Economics professor Jordi Gual stated at the IESE banking conference in Madrid that recent U.S. tariff actions are expected to significantly weaken global economic openness in the next five to fifteen years. The expected contraction is anticipated to be comparable in scale to the impact of the past 25 years of liberalization, negatively affecting economic growth and increasing inflation. He also mentioned that although the direct impact on GDP may not be large, the deeper concern lies in the increasing fragmentation and division of global value chains and the overall world economy. He said the key issue stems from widespread mistrust and uncertainty about current U.S. government policies, which could seriously hinder investment and trade.