Handelsoorlogen zouden banken moeten aanzetten om anders naar hun Credit Risk Management te kijken

Barriers to trade have many repercussions in the real economy, including price hikes, rising inflation, interest rate volatility and supply-chain disruptions. But what impact will the trade wars, fueled by constantly evolving tariffs under the Trump administration, have on credit portfolio management?

Nobel prize winners (like Paul Krugman) and former IMF chief economists have spent weeks explaining the effects of trade wars, but, strangely, the credit risk component of all of the tariffs movement has received relatively little attention. That may be because accounting for tariffs is a complex issue that will require the use of new credit risk methodologies.

Let’s unpack this complex puzzle, step-by-step, and then focus on appropriate actions that credit risk managers can and should take.

First-Order Effects: Decreasing Affordability

A basic rule of international economics is that firms trade with each other – not with countries. So, any analysis of trade war repercussions must start at the firm level, where we can make a distinction between firms faced with higher costs of imports and those faced with tariffs for their own exports.

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