The World Trade Organization (WTO) issued its thirteenth trade monitoring report on G20 trade measures on 15 June 2015. The report shows a slowing down in the implementation of new restrictive trade measures in G20 countries. It is not clear if this trend is set to continue but the WTO has urged G20 countries to continue measures to remove trade restrictions.

The report found that the average number of trade restrictions applied in each month was the lowest since 2013. In the period from mid-October 2014 117 new restrictive measures were applied each month by these countries, which is an average of 17 per month. On the other hand new measures aiming to facilitate trade continued at around 16 per month.

Over the longer term there is still a concern that the number of restrictive measures is rising. Since 2008 1,360 new restrictive measures have been introduced and 1,031 of these are still in place. Although the G20 has promised to roll back restrictive trade measures the number of new restrictive measures has increased by more than 7% since the previous report by the WTO.

The rate of growth in world merchandise trade is projected to increase from 2.8% in 2014 to 3.3% in 2015 and to 4% in 2016, but remains below historical averages. There is therefore a need for continuing action to facilitate trade and reduce the number of restrictive measures. However the WTO notes that the response to the financial crisis of 2008, in terms of new protectionist measures, has been more muted than would be expected. This suggests that the multilateral trading system is effective in discouraging protectionism.