Can the G20 halt ‘murky’ protectionism?

What should the G20 do, when they meet in London next month, to put an end to the growing use of what I've been calling 'wiggle-room' protection? Is 'murky' protectionism causing the coming collapse in trade volumes? Or will protectionism rise as a result? Supposing that they wanted to, could the G20 really crack-down on actions that close markets or discriminate against imports but are not clearly prohibited by WTO?

Richard Baldwin and Simon Evenett's book, now available for download (free) at the VoxEU site, comprises brief essays by trade Ministers (notably, Australia's Trade Minister, Simon Crean), high profile analysts and a number of leading trade experts.

"This ebook presents concrete steps that G20 leaders should take to avoid a negative protection-recession spiral and the threat it would pose to a global recovery." Extract from The collapse of global trade, murky protectionism, and the crisis: Recommendations for the G20"

Andrew Stoler (former Deputy Director General of WTO) and I have a paper in the collection: "G20 surveillance of harmful trade measures" that proposes a novel but potentially highly effective 'crowd-sourcing' approach to the exposure of harmful 'wiggle-room' measures.

We propose an open, public surveillance system whose components already exist—some of them in this website among thousands of others. Unlike the WTO surveillance mechanisms of the past, it allows those who have most at stake in a prosperous global economy—firms and households in rich countries and poor—to help safeguard the global recovery. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

Tags for this entry: trade wto protection g20 transparency surveillance evenett