The number of new restrictions on international trade has slowed sharply, according to an official study commissioned by the G20 group of governments, suggesting that a feared surge of protectionism has not arrived.

The report, by the World Trade Organisation and two other official agencies, said that new import-restricting measures imposed over the past six months by G20 countries had affected at most 0.7 per cent of G20 goods imports, or 0.4 per cent of world imports – around half the increase in the previous six months.

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Critics have argued that those traditional measures do not capture the extent of so-called “murky protectionism”, or less obvious actions, such as financial or car industry bail-outs, that have protectionist potential....

The most recent Global Trade Alert report, published last month, said there had been a wide variety of worrying measures such as new Chinese restrictions on foreigners bidding for high-tech state contracts, Washington’s use of the “Buy American” home procurement rules or a raft of restrictive policies implemented by Russia.

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Read the full report here