In an emergency videoconference on Monday 30 March, trade ministers from the Group of 20 (G20) countries agreed on the importance and need for a coordinated global response to best manage the impact that the coronavirus pandemic will have on the global economy.
"This is one of the most abrupt and impactful economic shocks in at least a generation", EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan warned in his address to his counterparts. And he called to work on two fronts; the current crisis and the preparation of the post-pandemic recovery.
In the short term, the aim is "to maintain open trade and avoid unnecessary disruptions of supply chains", particularly for essential medical and protective equipment.
Any additional and unnecessary tensions - existing or proposed customs duties, trade-restrictive measures - must be avoided through "coordination at the highest level to restore trust and predictability".
And to take as an example the export authorisation measures introduced in the EU to protect, described by him as "targeted, proportionate, transparent and temporary" (see EUROPE 12451/7).
The EU also calls on its main partners to "eliminate all tariffs on COVID-19 related products", to avoid any restrictions in the agri-food sector and to mobilise all producers of virus-fighting equipment "by making standards for medical supplies freely available to any interested company, as we did in the EU" (see EUROPE 12452/18).
In the aftermath of the crisis, the G20 will have to work, among other things, on maintaining the global integration of supply chains, which "provides a guarantee of availability and diversity of supply, while building strategic reserves of affordable medical and protective equipment, reforming the WTO and regulating e-commerce", Hogan said. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)