Inside OutProtectionism is alive and well, and much of it is aimed against China

Roberto Azevedo, director general of the World Trade Organisation, does not mince words: “World trade is under siege”. After decades of double-digit annual growth in world trade, driving much of the growth in the global economy, trade hit a wall with the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, flatlined to the end of 2014, and has contracted ever since.

That is horrid news for Asia’s ports. It is horrid news for the world’s shipping lines. It has taken the life of Hanjin, one of South Korea’s biggest shipping lines. It is in the process of taking the lives of thousands of Hong Kong’s small trading companies. And for all those businesses around the world that rely on international trade for their livelihoods, there is no relief in sight.

If you want to get really gloomy about it, read Simon Evenett’s latest and 19th Global Trade Alert, which has become compulsory reading for those anxious to track and understand the protectionist forces that have gathered since 2008.

Since the Lehman crash in 2008, his Global Trade Alert has tracked a total of 8,681 new protectionist measures initiated by governments around the world – over 1,000 of them introduced last year. All of the top 10 offenders are G20 member economies, and by far the worst offender has been the US.

India and Russia have travelled in the US slip stream, but none come near the 630 protectionist measures put in place by the US since 2008. These include 200 new requirements for US government procurement contracts to go to US companies, and for other “buy local” initiatives.

Of the 8,681 measures worldwide, Evenett argues that significantly the most damaging have been subsidies and state aid to local companies, trade defences, and import tariffs. Predictably, the main target of all these protectionist moves has been China – whose companies have been hit by more than 2,900 of the measures – about one third. And two thirds of the measures have targeted foreign companies.