India, April 12 -- Global trade could shrink by three per cent as a result of the United States' new tariff measures, which in the longer term could reshape and boost as-yet untapped regional commercial links, a top UN economist confirmed on Friday.

"There will be shifting, I think, in supply chains, there will be a reassessment of global alliances. There will be geopolitical shifts and economic as well," said Pamela Coke-Hamilton, head of the International Trade Centre (ITC).

Speaking in Geneva after Wednesday's announcement by the White House of a 90-day pause on "reciprocal tariffs" for most countries with the exception of China, Mrs. Coke-Hamilton noted that exports from Mexico had already been "highly impacted" by earlier seismic c...