Brazil and Argentina will be pushing at the G20 summit in London next week for developed countries to make strong commitments not to adopt protectionism in response to the global economic crisis, even though Argentina has recently raised non-tariff barriers against imports from its neighbours and Brazil has done little to prevent it.

Brazilian diplomats conceded that calling on developed countries not to protect jobs in their home markets would have little impact in London, although they argued that voicing such concerns was important.