As the coronavirus-hit world limits exports, can New Zealand and Singapore keep trade open?

Over the past month, two of the region’s most trade-reliant economies have been organising like-minded countries in a bid to maintain supply chains

Their move comes as nations around the globe look to keep medical supplies and food for domestic use amid the battle against Covid-19

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The World Trade Organisation says 80 countries have enacted some kind of restriction on the export of face masks, gloves and other medical supplies. Photo: AP

Published: 2:00pm, 2 May 2020Updated: 9:18pm, 13 Oct 2020

Governments’ visceral instinct to look out for their own in times of crisis – even if it hurts friends and allies – could not have been more clearly laid bare by the wave of export restrictions put in place for much-needed supplies amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The World Trade Organisation last week said 80 countries had enacted some kind of restriction on the export of face masks, gloves and other medical supplies – but only 13 of those nations followed procedure and informed the world body of the measures.

Experts say they next expect countries to impose or ramp up restrictions on food exports as stockpiles dwindle during extended economic shutdowns to suppress the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected more than 3.2 million people and caused more than 230,000 deaths around the world.

“We have at least two problems rising in the pandemic: restrictions on medical products and, potentially, restrictions on food. Both are driven by political imperatives to protect domestic citizens first,” said Deborah Elms, executive director of the Asian Trade Centre in Singapore.

The protectionist instinct, however, is not completely pervasive: some countries, out of necessity, have chosen to go in the opposite direction in the face of the ongoing crisis.

Over the past month, Singapore and New Zealand – two of the region’s most trade-reliant economies – have been organising like-minded countries in the region into an emergency pact aimed at ensuring open trade and intact supply chains.

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