Renewed global economic weakness is threatening a fresh wave of protectionism, compounding government restraints on international commerce introduced earlier in the worldwide financial crisis, according to the European Union’s top trade official.
Karel De Gucht, the EU trade commissioner, also sounded a downbeat note about the forthcoming meeting of ministers from the World Trade Organisation’s member countries, saying they had no real plan to strengthen the WTO given the stasis in the so-called “Doha round” of trade talks.
Mr De Gucht was speaking on the sidelines of the US-EU summit in Washington on Monday, which was dominated by discussions of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis. José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, said on Friday that the EU had yet to find a definitive solution to the crisis. “As long as that does not happen we will have very serious problems”, Mr Barroso said.