WTO rejects protectionist policies

Surprise, surprise, surprise…

This was the position taken by World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy during a recent speech given at the Peterson Institute. Lamy was emphatic on the issue:

My point is that retreating from market opening is not a solution to the economic crisis. For countries that depend on trade and have specialized according to comparative advantage, a reversal of openness will impose significant costs on the economy. What is more, setting up new barriers to trade will be seen as protectionism and will risk retaliation from trade partners. One country's exports are another country's imports. Rather than reviving economies, the effect of this will be to worsen the global crisis.