Why 2026 Is Poised to Be Another Rocky Year for Global Trade

The global trading system, which is finishing up one of its most transformational years of the past century, heads into another facing more challenges to stability and growth.

Merchandise trade across the world held up relatively well through 2025, even as US President Donald Trump started erecting a tariff wall around the world’s largest economy. Data cited this week by shipping industry veteran John McCown show global container volumes grew 2.1% in October from a year earlier.

Yet beneath the overall resilience are shifting undercurrents: The US saw a 8% contraction in inbound volumes, while imports into Africa, the ...