EU Trade Commissioner Warns Against Protectionism

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

03 March 2009

European Union Trade Commissioner, Catherine Ashton, has used the weekly European Commission's Market Access Newsletter to warn against a global slide into protectionism:

"The events of recent weeks have provided increasing evidence that the economic downturn is hitting trade flows hard around the world. In the face of this challenging economic environment, some governments are coming under severe pressure to shield their economies and favour local production by either raising tariff and non-tariff barriers, or by artificially boosting exports. If triggered, an escalation of new protectionist measures would lead to a fall in global trade activity further deepening the economic downturn. The challenge therefore, is to make the case against "protectionism" by arguing instead that what we should be protecting is the opportunity of Europe's citizens to generate wealth through open trade."

"This argument relies not only on drawing upon and reminding our global trade partners of the lessons of history but also on engaging with European citizens indirectly by demonstrating the importance and opportunities offered by open trade to them as individuals and to SMEs all over the European Union – something I am working on jointly with Commissioner Verheugen."

"In addition to making the case, the Commission is simultaneously pursuing three complementary strands of action aimed at monitoring and preventing a global slide towards protectionism. In the WTO we are working closely with Pascal Lamy on his initiative to introduce a WTO monitoring mechanism using the existing Trade Policy Review Body as the implementing forum. We are also actively supporting the G-20 process, as a key mechanism to provide political leadership and peer pressure into the monitoring and prevention process. Finally, the Commission and Member States are working jointly under the Market Access Strategy to gather timely information on trade restrictive measures planned or implemented by our main trading partners."

"It goes without saying that the strongest anti-protectionist signal that the international community could send at this time would be to complete the DDA [Doha Development Agenda]. The Commission remains firmly committed to striving to achieve this objective which would provide a much needed boost to the global economy."

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