A local think tank has predicted that if trade tariffs across the globe rise to ten percent on average, nearly 160-thousand South Korean workers will lose their jobs. 

Joo Won, a senior researcher at Hyundai Research Institute, made public his calculation at a seminar held by the Federation of Korean Industries in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss the deepening trade tensions between the United States and China. 

He forecast if the dispute expands into a global trade war and causes average worldwide tariffs to rise from the current four-point-eight percent to ten percent, the South Korean economic growth rate will decline by point-six percentage point and 158-thousand South Koreans will lose jobs. 

He added that if an economic crisis breaks out in China and brings down its growth rate by one percentage point, it will cause South Korea’s economic growth to fall by a half percentage point alongside 129-thousand job losses. 

Former Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho described the current global trade environment as the worst since the Second World War, pointing out that Washington should have taken issue with China’s unfair trade practices instead of directly imposing tariffs on it.