The unstable international trade environment has undermined trade this year, according to a World Trade Organisation (WTO) report released on 12 December.
The report, which covers the period from mid-October 2018 to mid-October 2019, concludes that rising trade tensions, coupled with increased protectionist measures, have added to the uncertainty surrounding international trade.
The growth of world trade has stagnated over the period under consideration. The WTO has also revised its world trade growth forecasts downwards in 2019, bringing them down to 1.2% for 2019, while in April it estimated it at 2.6%. The main cause is the increase in trade restrictive measures and slower growth “in one or more major economies”, the report notes. The organisation has also adjusted its forecasts for 2020 from 3% to 2.7%.
102 new restrictive measures affected $746.9 billion in trade this year, the report also states, an annual increase of 27%. “This is the highest recorded since October 2012”, the report says.
A record number of anti-dumping investigations were initiated in the second half of 2019, targeting mainly steel and ferrous products, followed by furniture and machinery.
However, this protectionist trend was offset by 120 new trade facilitation measures applied by members during the year, targeting $544.7 billion in imports.
Read the report: https://bit.ly/2tq9AVv (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)