Brexit and a potential US withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement could have large ripple effects on trade in Asia, helping some countries and hurting others, according to prominent trade economist Ben Shepherd. What’s more, Asia’s tightly integrated supply chains could be disrupted in the aftermath.

Shepherd told a seminar at the Asian Development Bank Institute that although the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union and a potential US pullout from NAFTA seem remote from Asia, any effects on trade flows will be keenly felt in the region.

The trading system is a great example of a global, closed, integrated network, meaning if you change something somewhere, you change everything everywhere. These distant trade policy changes are important for Asia, even though we are geographically distant from that going on.

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About the speaker

Ben Shepherd is a principal at Developing Trade Consultants.

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