WTO report: “G20 trade restrictions reach highest monthly level since the crisis”

The WTO’s fifteenth trade monitoring report on G20 trade measures, issued on 21 June, shows the application of new trade-restrictive measures by G20 economies increased compared to the previous reporting period, reaching the highest monthly average registered since the WTO began its monitoring exercise in 2009.

In the period under review (mid-October 2015 to mid-May 2016), G20 economies applied 145 new trade-restrictive measures, or an average of almost 21 new measures a month. In the same period, G20 economies implemented 100 measures aimed at facilitating trade, averaging just over 14 per month. Since 2009, a total of 1,583 trade restrictive measures were imposed by G20 countries, and only a quarter of these measures have been removed. These restrictions cover over 6% of all G20 imports and 5% of global imports.

The report is availableo n the WTO website at:
https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news16_e/trdev_21jun16_e.htm