EU complains trade protectionism among G20 members

The European Commission issued a monitoring report claiming lack of progress in reducing trade barriers within the group of G20 countries and claiming they have to do more to stick to their initial commitment. The report cited 424 restrictive measures to open trade conducted by EU's trading partners since the start of the Commission's monitoring in October 2008, in which 131 have been introduced in the past 12 months, while only 40 were removed. "Protectionism poses a real threat to the economic recovery. I am concerned to see that the overall picture has not improved and that more trade restrictive measures have been introduced by our trading partners." Said EU Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht. "The EU will therefore, in bilateral and multilateral talks, continue to remind its partners to stick to their commitment to reduce trade barriers." He said. The report concluded that restrictive measures have been substantially increased in some countries and new industrial policies of several G20 members raised concerns about open trade and investment, as they were often based on import substitution, local content requirements and restrictions in public procurement, whiche were obviously biased against emerging economics. The report also cited some cases of protectionism, like decisions taken by Argentina, India, Indonesia and Brazil, as examples of trade barriers. The report covers 30 of the EU's main trading partners, including the G20 countries.