Anti-anti-dumping
European Union trade officials have rejected a plan to extend the ‘anti-dumping’ duties levied on shoe imports from China and Vietnam. The episode points up the opaque and arbitrary nature of EU trade laws
As the financial crisis develops, concerns over free trade are growing as measures aimed at protecting national economies put the global economy at risk.
In an unusual show of defiance, EU member states reject a European Commission recommendation to extend anti-dumping duties against Chinese and Vietnamese footwear imports
European Commission is struggling to secure enough support among member states for a controversial plan to extend ‘anti-dumping’ duties against imported Chinese and Vietnamese footwear
European and Latin American trade officials are close to a deal over bananas that would end the longest-running dispute in the history of the World Trade Organisation and could lead to lower prices for consumers
Business leaders warn that rising trade barriers, imposed in response to the global economic crisis, threaten economic relations between the European Union and Russia
South Korea is planning to allow the use of ‘poison pills’ to help local companies fend off hostile takeovers as the influence of foreign investors grows in Asia’s fifth-largest economy
European Union trade officials have rejected a plan to extend the ‘anti-dumping’ duties levied on shoe imports from China and Vietnam. The episode points up the opaque and arbitrary nature of EU trade laws
Barack Obama’s ruling will worsen tension, but unless it proves to be the first in a string of bad decisions, it need not be catastrophic. Cool heads can stop a global trade conflagration
The US may import fewer tyres from China, but this decision is not going to jumpstart moribund domestic tyre production. This is protectionism without the protection, writes Charles Freeman
The fall out from the financial crisis had a far-reaching impact, but putting the brakes on globalisation is not the right answer, writes Henny Sender
Perhaps transparency measures are having an effect in moderating trade restrictions. But letting in sunlight on protectionism is not enough to kill it outright
A fundamental protectionist threat lies in global imbalances, which are at root of the financial crisis, writes John Plender
The US must come to terms with its limited ability to muscle China into doing what it wants. China must keep adapting to a rule-based global trading order
The protectionism we are experiencing now is caused by co-ordination failure. It is neither sudden, nor surprising, writes Wolfgang Münchau
A retreat from the goals of the European Union by its leaders into individual financial nationalism cannot be dismissed as an understandable response
Economic nationalism, it is argued, will tip the world into a Great Depression. This is a horrifying but distant prospect
When a government can spray round a trillion dollars on more or less what it pleases, everything gets political real fast

The head of the World Trade Organisation on his fears of rising protectionism

The World Bank’s chief economist on how protectionism could affect the economic outlook

The chief of DHL Express on why protectionism is a serious risk to prosperity