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ausing recent to armmunternational trade is generally more open than it was in the past, and he remained optimistic that despite the pushback on open trade and antiglobalization headwinds, there will be no widespread move away from globalization.

“The problem of protectionism is mostly with Trump...he was wrong in the first place. As Trump started imposing tariffs on other countries, others would [have to] retaliate in order to stop him from doing so,” Lamy commented, adding that it’s too soon to predict the results of the trade negotiations between China and the US during the 90-day truce.

“I don’t think the problem or the solution lies in bilateral trade deficits [between China and the US]. I think the right table to discuss and deal with this issue is the multilateral table,” he said.

In the first 11 months of this year, China imported $144.6 billion worth of goods from the US, up by 5 percent on a yearly basis, while it exported $438 billion in goods, up by 12.9 percent year-on-year.

Lamy also stressed that it’s unfair to say that China hasn’t fulfilled its commitment to the WTO as the US has complained, but the current rules of the WTO don’t always fit with China’s economy. Therefore, he said, some WTO rules like those on subsidies could be reformed.