The global economic crisis, contemporary protectionism, and least developed countries

As an aftermath of the recent global economic and financial crisis, the incidences of widespread protectionism, although manifested around the world did not escalate to the level experienced in the 1930s. There are competing views among the experts regarding the extent and impact of crisis-era and post-crisis protectionism, mainly because the unconventional and ‘murky’ nature of newly introduced trade barriers makes them more difficult to quantify. However, both the latest reports, the European Commission’s “Eighth Report on Potentially Trade Restrictive Measures” (2011a) and the WTO report to the Trade Policy Review Body from the DG on traderelated developments (2011a), admitted that border closing trade restrictions in past six months had increased significantly, particularly compared to the previous periods.

Related Subject(s): Economic and Social Development