Industry News

Brussels Report on Restrictive Trade Measures

November 18, 2014


    Brussels released a report in November identifying 170 restrictive trade policies enacted over the past 13 months that harm the European Union.  The study analyzed the trade policies of the G20 countries and the most restrictive trade policies were enacted by Russia, China, Indonesia, and India.  While Russia was found to be the most severe offender, the study found the U.S. to be “the most active country to embrace procurement-related trade restrictions.”  The research also found that countries implemented a significant number of export restrictions, which an EU press release stated is “particularly worrying.”  China was the country to most “frequently [use] discriminatory internal taxation, technical regulations or localisation requirements to shield their markets from foreign competition.”  Of the 170 restrictive policies, 12 were repealed.  EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom stated, “I regret to see that many countries still consider protectionism a valid policy tool. This goes clearly against the G20's commitment to abstain from imposing trade restrictions and to remove existing ones.”

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