Isolationism, trade wars will fail, says William Dudley

Says trade barriers an expensive way to preserve jobs in less competitive or declining industries

Despite the protectionist rhetoric of Donald Trump regime, William C Dudley, the president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said open markets and expanded trade policies had helped the global economy more than they have hurt the displaced workers.

“Efforts to suppress open markets and globalisation through protectionism will not work,” said Dudley.

He was delivering the keynote address at a function organised by the US-India Business Council, industry lobby CII and the BSE, on ‘Benefits and Challenges from Globalisation’.

Dudley, an influential voice on the US central bank’s policy direction, offered a strong defence of open trade