The value of global imported goods affected by new tariffs and other import restrictions has increased more than 4 times in the period from mid-October 2024 to mid-October 2025 compared to the same period before. This is the highest increase in more than 15 years since the WTO began a trade oversight mechanism.
In parallel with the increased protectionist trend, WTO members have also proposed many measures to facilitate trade, both for imports and exports, with the scale of trade supported being 1.5 times larger than the same period before. The world trade union also noted that member countries prioritize dialogue over retaliation.
In the past 12 months, the volume of global imported goods worth about 2,640 billion USD, equivalent to 11.1% of total import turnover, was affected by tariffs and other trade measures applied from mid-October 2024 to mid-October 2025. This figure is more than 4 times the previous 611 billion USD.
Including similar measures against exports, the total value of affected trade reached 2,966 billion USD, more than 3 times higher than the previous report's 888 billion USD.
In the same period, WTO members and observers of the organization also proposed 331 measures to facilitate trade for goods, with an estimated scale of 2,090 billion USD, an increase of about 1.5 times compared to 1,441 billion USD last year.
The sudden increase in tariff measures reflects the increased trend of protectionist households since the beginning of the year.Nearly a fifth (19.7%) of total global import turnover is currently affected by tariffs and trade restrictions applied since 2009, compared to 12.6% a year ago.At the same time, we see that many members still implement trade support measures and prioritize dialogue over retaliation.This shows that the parties attach importance to maintaining smooth cross-border trade flows" - VAT General Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala commented.
WTO believes that member countries should take advantage of the current period of trade disruption to promote outstanding reforms, while addressing concerns related to unilateral measures and taking advantage of emerging trade opportunities.
WTO economists predict that world trade in goods will increase by 2.4% in 2025 and 0.5% in 2026. The growth momentum in the first half of 2025 is driven by early import, strong demand for artificial intelligence-related products, and maintained trade growth in most economies, especially developing countries.
During the reporting period, WTO members initiated an average of 32.3 trade defense investigations per month, down from the peak of 37.3 investigations/month in 2024. The number of cases completed for investigation reached only 11.4 cases/month, at the lowest level since 2012, showing that many trade defense measures continue to be maintained. These measures, especially anti- devaluation, are still an important trade policy tool of many countries, accounting for 46.5% of all measures related to goods in the report.
