The surge in antitrade rhetoric around the worldwide is being accompanied by a rise in the introduction of protectionist measures by the world’s leading economies, the World Trade Organisation has warned.
The WTO said in a report released on Tuesdayyesterday that between mid-October of last year and mid-May of 2016 this year G20 economies had introduced protectionist trade measures at the fastest pace seen since the 2008 financial crisis, rolling out the equivalent of five each week.
That trend coincided with a slowdown in global trade now in its fifth year. Moreover, it was contributing to the persistent slow growth in the global economy, the WTO said, and the fact it was coinciding with an increase in protectionist political rhetoric around the world ought to be worrying.