New Delhi, May 26 -- The tariff war triggered by US President Donald Trump raised fears of an unravelling of the existing global trade order, long built on freer movement of goods and services between countries. But, in a recent interview, World Bank President Ajay Banga said that globalization was not going away. What was changing, he added, was the nature of trade, with a greater focus on country-to-country ties.

Indeed, trade agreements and deeper and wider trade treaties between countries and blocs have progressively increased.

A World Trade Organization (WTO) database shows that 375 regional trade agreements (RTAs) between two or more countries are currently in force, with another 36 in the works. Of the active RTAs, 241 have come ...