WASHINGTON—Fragmentation of the global economy and a retreat from global trade would make countries more vulnerable to production shocks arising from natural disasters and outbreaks of fatal diseases, the head of the World Trade Organization said on Wednesday.
WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told an event hosted by the National Foreign Trade Council that economists estimated that a fragmentation of the global economy could reduce global gross domestic product by 5 percent in the longer run.
