Global trade contracted in the first seven months of the year as political uncertainties intensified and the US-China trade war became more disruptive, resulting in a geographically widespread loss of trade momentum. 

The real value of global exports dropped by 0.4 per cent in July compared to the same month last year, according to the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis or CPB’s closely watched World trade monitor. The contraction was milder than a 1.7 per cent fall in June, but it marked the sixth fall in real exports in the last eight months. 

In the year through July — a less volatile measure than the monthly figures — the value of global exports was also lower than over the same period last year, when it had recorded a 3.7 per cent expansion.