The World Trade Organisation (WTO) called on the G20 leading economies yesterday to begin removing trade barriers thrown up since the 2008 global economic crisis to allow international trade to resume the strong growth it saw at the start of the century.
In its latest report on the problem, the 160-nation body said that of the 1,244 trade-restrictive measures G20 members had introduced over the past six years, 962 remained in force despite a pick-up in the world economy. In addition, the report said, G20 countries were still introducing new measures limiting trade — at the rate of 18 a month over the past year — pushing the total in force up by 12 per cent since November 2013.
