Why don’t they say what they mean?
It's often open to question whether the G7—represented by their Finance Ministers in this case—mean what they say when it comes to trade policies. But it's a real puzzle that, despite the general skepticism of which they must be aware, they continue to think that they can get away with this by never saying what they mean.
"An open system of global trade and investment is indispensable for global prosperity. The G7 remains committed to avoiding protectionist measures, which would only exacerbate the downturn, to refraining from raising new barriers and to working towards a quick and ambitious conclusion of the Doha round." Extract from Financial Times
"Avoiding protectionist measures" simply isn't good enough as a commitment to ensure that the recovery of world trade is not prejudiced by sly devices such as subsidies, 'buy-local' restrictions, standards barriers and 'safeguards' (not forgetting capital account protection via competitive exchange rate management).
If the G7 really did intend to foreswear "protectionism" they'd spell out what precisely they meant they would not do.
Posted on 02/15 at 08:28 AM.
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