reportong20trademeasures.docVIP

REPORT ON G20 TRADE MEASURES (MID-OCTOBER 2010 TO APRIL 2011) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Observance of G20 commitment to resist protectionism and rollback restrictions is faltering The monitoring of trade measures taken by G20 economies reveals that trade restrictions over the past six months have become more pronounced than in the past. The G20 collective resolve and political courage to resist protectionism in the context of the global crisis which was a positive characteristic over the previous years may now be under stress. Nevertheless, the severity of the global crisis and the various important challenges confronting the world economy, such as an unbalanced economic recovery, persistent high levels of unemployment, sovereign debt problems, rising commodities prices, and geopolitical tensions, have not resulted on the whole in a significant increase of trade barriers. Policy slippage continues to occur and appears to be increasing The number of trade restrictive measures taken by G20 economies has increased over the past six months. Most G20 economies have at one point or another put in place measures that restrict, or have the potential to restrict, trade with their partners. In some cases, certain types of trade restrictions are more prevalent, particularly increases in import tariffs, more non-automatic import licensing, and new export restrictions. Concerns are also raised about other, less visible, discretionary administrative practices that can have considerable restrictive effects on imports. In addition, new trade-remedy actions, although declining, remain at a relatively high level. Collectivelly, these are feeding fears that post-crisis protectionism may be gaining momentum. New import restrictive measures taken by G20 economies over the period October 2010 to April 2011 cover around 0.6% of total G20 imports which is also an increase over the previous six months (0.3%), and adds to the cumulative total of world trade affected by new re