Trade war could derail global economic recovery, warns OECD

Thinktank upgrades its growth forecast but says tit-for-tat tariffs would make international trade vulnerable

The west's leading economic thinktank has warned Donald Trump that a trade war prompted by US protectionism threatens to derail a recovery in global growth, which has reached its highest level in seven years.

In its latest interim forecasts, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said it expected the world economy to expand by 3.9% in both 2018 and 2019 - a 0.3 percentage point upgrade in each year from its last set of predictions last November.

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