Global Financial Challenges: The Post-1945 World Trading System In Disarray

The global trade order stemming from the post-1945 World War II era is under severe stress due to rising protectionism, financial weaponization, and technological barriers. The U.S. effective tariff rate has climbed above 18 percent, the highest since 1933, while trade-distorting measures now outpace 2009–2017 levels by tenfold. China accounts for two-thirds of all subsidy activity among G20 nations and maintains a staggering share of global trade surplus. The U.S. conversely runs the largest external deficit, over $1 trillion, around 3.7 percent of GDP. Fragmentation into China-centric (50 percent of world population) and U.S.-centric blocs is deepening structural instability without a renewed Bretton Woods-style agreement.