The Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has urged G20 governments to avoid implementing new trade restrictions that could worsen the global economic situation.
This call follows the release of the 31st WTO Trade Monitoring Report, which highlighted a significant increase in trade-restrictive measures among G20 economies over the past year.
While G20 countries also introduced trade-facilitating measures, the report showed a troubling trend of rising protectionist policies and unilateral actions, which may undermine global trade and recovery efforts.
Cautioning that these measures were adding to global economic uncertainty, Okonjo-Iweala urged G20 governments to avoid implementing new restrictions that could exacerbate the economic outlook.
She said, “The report indicates a trade-restrictive trend, which should be a cause for concern. These measures, on both the import and the export sides, contribute to shortages, price volatility, and uncertainty.
“G20 economies must work to keep markets open and predictable, to enable goods to flow smoothly and foster the certainty that helps incentivise investment and job creation.”
Okonjo-Iweala acknowledged the trade-facilitating measures introduced by G20 economies, noting that these efforts would help alleviate inflationary pressures.
During the review period from mid-October 2023 to mid-October 2024, G20 economies implemented 91 new trade-restrictive measures and 141 trade-facilitating measures on goods, with both sets primarily focusing on imports.
The trade coverage of the restrictive measures was estimated at $828.9 billion, a substantial increase from $246.0 billion in the previous G20 report.
Similarly, the trade coverage of facilitating measures rose to $1,069.6 billion, up from $318.8 billion.
The report highlighted a continued increase in the stockpile of G20 import restrictions, which have been accumulating since 2009.
As of 2024, the value of trade covered by G20 import restrictions was estimated at $2,328 billion, representing 12.7% of total G20 imports and 9.4% of global imports.
This was slightly higher than the $2,287 billion (9.1% of world imports) recorded in the previous report.
On the export front, 22 new export restrictions were introduced during the review period. This number is significantly lower than the annual average of around 50 new measures seen over the past three years, and closer to pre-pandemic levels.
However, the trade coverage of these export restrictions has grown substantially.
A positive trend identified in the report was the decrease in the number of export restrictions on food, feed, and fertilizers that were imposed and not withdrawn since the start of the war in Ukraine.
The number dropped to 70, with an estimated trade coverage of $11.8 billion, down significantly from $29.6 billion a year earlier.
The report also noted that the average monthly number of trade remedy initiations by G20 economies rose to 25.4 during the review period.
This is close to the peak level observed in 2020 (28.6 initiations per month) and signals the end of the slowdown in trade remedy investigations seen between 2021 and 2023.
Furthermore, the monthly average of trade remedy terminations during this period was 7.5, the lowest since 2015. Anti-dumping measures, in particular, continued to be a primary trade policy tool for most G20 economies, accounting for 63% of the trade measures on goods recorded in the report.
In services trade, G20 economies introduced 50 new measures between mid-October 2023 and mid-October 2024, with 40% of these deemed restrictive. Around 30% of the measures were horizontal, mainly affecting mode three (commercial presence) and mode four (movement of natural persons).
