Workers at the port of Qingdao. China’s dispute with America has raised fears around the world STR/AFP/GETTY IMAGESWorld leaders must unite to take “urgent and drastic action” to protect the global trading system, Liam Fox warned last night. In an online posting, the secretary of state for international trade and president of the Board of Trade outlined how the dispute between the United States and China, protectionism and political deadlock were threatening to overwhelm the World Trade Organisation, which oversees trade regulations. The minister said the body, which is an intergovernmental forum with 164 member states, “now faces one of the biggest tests since its establishment and, with all its functions under strain, it could become an existential crisis”. Dr Fox also criticised the leaders of the G20 group of nations for failing to tackle “neither the scale nor urgency of the…

Source: The Times June 13, 2019 23:14 UTC