President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, has described the imposition of global tariffs by the United States as one that has the potential of destroying economies, noting that it is unfortunate to impose such a broad wave of tariffs without negotiation.
Addressing the media at the Flagstaff house on Tuesday, April 8, as part of his three-day visit to Ghana, President Pavel called for a negotiation approach to minimize the impact of these tariffs on countries’ economies, especially those in Africa like Lostho.
“Countries, especially countries that are allies, should first negotiate, and only when they are not able to come to an agreement can they exert some pressure.
“We haven’t explored the opportunities of negotiating. With regard to a number of African and Asian countries, especially those that belong amongst the poorest globally, like Lesotho or Cambodia and Laos, they are charged by the biggest tariffs in history. It could be easily, easily destroying their economies.
He believes that it is only through negotiations that a trade balance will be created for the US and the world, as this will prevent the destruction of the economies of other countries.
“So I really think that we have to collectively address the United States to rethink this approach and to negotiate, because I believe that only by negotiating we can achieve a result that will be both beneficial for the United States, balancing more their trade with the world, but also not destroying countries.”
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Meanwhile, President Mahama has announced that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the coming days will release a statement on the impact of the tariff on Ghana’s economy.
“The Ministry of Trade held a session with the U.S. Ambassador to clarify what the implications of the tariff are for Ghana particularly. I think in the next few days the Minister of Foreign Affairs will release a paper, a statement, on what the implications of those tariffs are.”
He noted that the tariff war was unfortunate in regard to global acceptance of a rule-based trading system leading to significant growth in global GDP.
“But I just join His Excellency to say that we all accepted a rule-based trading system, and it has served the world well because it has led to quite significant growth in GDP across the world.
“It is unfortunate that without resorting to the rules-based system, one country unilaterally decides to increase tariffs across the world on all countries.”