Brussels, 03/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - Hailed by the WTO for resisting protectionism despite the current difficult climate (see EUROPE 10889 and 10890), the EU will have to sharpen its tone, at the G20 summit in St Petersburg on 5-6 September, against partners that have not respected their commitments.
It is a rather irritated European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht who, on the eve of the G20 summit, lambasted the inadequate trade behaviour of a number of countries from the closed G20 club (which brings together the industrial and emerging powers) as the world exits economic and financial crisis, unprecedented since the mid-20th century. The G20 (South Africa, Australia, Canada, USA, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, South Korea, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Germany, France, Italy, UK and EU) will be hosted by Russia.
“All of us need to stick to our pledge to fight back against protectionism. It is worrisome to see so many restrictive measures still being adopted and virtually none abolished. The G20 agreed a long time ago to avoid protectionist tendencies because we all know these will hurt the global recovery in the long run”, De Gucht said, reacting to a new Commission report (see EUROPE 10912) listing 154 trade restriction measures adopted by the EU's trading partners since May 2012 - with the G20 countries in the lead.
In total, only 107 of the 795 restrictive arrangements, adopted by the EU's trading partners and identified by the Commission since the start of the crisis in October 2008, have been abolished. At the end of May, 688 measures were still in place. Among the leaders of the countries that have applied the most restrictive trade measures since then are by far the countries of the G20 - with Argentina in the lead (147 measures), followed by Russia (99 measures), Indonesia (73 measures) and Brazil (59 measures). China, with which the EU is engaged in several trade disputes, comes relatively far down the list - with 36 protectionist measures identified.
As well as measures applied directly at the border and the levying of import duties, the EU criticises other measures - like those imposing the use of national goods and company relocations - particularly in the public procurement sector, and export support practices. The Commission also criticises measures to shield certain national industries from foreign competition. (EH/transl.fl)