Expressing concerns over increasing trade tensions, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) today said closing of the US economy would damage both American and global trade growth prospects.
ICC Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said that open markets underpinned by the rule-based multilateral trading system have been a vital driver of prosperity across the world and any erosion of that system will come at "quite a cost to us all".
"A progressive closing of the world's largest economy to trade will damage both US and global growth prospects. In an interconnected world, international commerce cannot be governed by zero-sum policy decisions," Mittal said in a statement.
He said that the chamber would encourage the US and all its trading partners to find new ways to resolve ongoing trade tensions through multilateral dialogue and without recourse to further tariff increases.
Tariff hikes will impact small businesses that often rely heavily on imported goods and services, he said.
The US has imposed high import duties on certain steel and aluminium products, triggering a global trade war.