On April 2, 2025, the president of the United States, Donald Trump announced that a set of reciprocal tariffs would apply to all imports to the US at rates between a 10% base tariff to almost 50% for countries with large merchandise trade deficits with the country.

Pandemonium followed on global stock markets. Following requests for negotiations by over 75 countries, the US administration announced a pause on these reciprocal tariffs on all countries—barring China—for a period of 90 days.

During these three months, nearly all countries will be subject to the 10% base tariff as they use this time to negotiate bilateral trade agreements with the US. It is widely expected that the ultimate result of all these negotiations will be a new global trade order that looks vastly different from the one prior to April 2025.

Trade has been a powerful instrument for gender equality over the last few decades – especially in low income and emerging economies. Research by the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO) finds that firms that are part of global value chains tend to employ more women. In........

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