A report prepared by the World Trade Organization (WTO) for the G20 and issued on 6 November 2014 indicates that despite undertakings to roll back restrictive trade measures these are still on the rise in the G20 economies. Restrictive measures have risen by 12% in the past year in these countries. Since the financial crisis 1,244 restrictive measures have been recorded of which only 282 have been removed. However the trade policy response to the financial crisis has been rather more restrained than had been initially expected. This reflects the positive effect of the multilateral trading system.

The need for restraint and roll back of restrictive measures is particularly important in view of the uncertainties currently facing the global economy. One positive aspect of the report is that G20 countries took 79 trade liberalizing measures during the period under review. Also, the number of restrictive measures that affected exports declined compared to previous periods.

Looking at tariffs rather than non-tariff measures the picture gives grounds for being relatively optimistic. The number of import tariff liberalization measures taken during the period greatly exceeded the number of tariff increases.

The WTO expresses the need for more transparency from the G20 measures in relation to their trade measures. This would help the ability of the WTO to analyze and understand the effects of non-tariff measures on international trade. These measures, such as regulations that act as a barrier to trade or subsidies that favor domestic producers can influence the flows of international trade just as much as tariff barriers.