Geneva: World Trade Organization (WTO) members introduced 169 new trade-restrictive measures between October 2023 and October 2024, leaving the global trading environment increasingly uncertain and volatile, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in her annual report.
“The value of trade covered by the 169 new trade-restrictive measures introduced by WTO members during the 12 months leading up to mid-October 2024 was estimated at USD 887.7 billion – half a trillion dollars more than the value of trade covered by restrictions introduced in the preceding year, which stood at USD 337.1 billion,” the document said.
Okonjo-Iweala welcomed an increase in trade-facilitating measures, including tariff cuts, simplified import procedures, and the removal of quantitative restrictions, which covered an estimated $1,440.4 billion worth of traded goods during the review period, according to the report.
“There is little meaningful roll-back of existing trade restrictions. That means the stockpile of trade restrictions continues to grow,” she said.
Okonjo-Iweala said that as of mid-October 2024, the import restrictions in force were affecting an estimated $2,942 billion, or 11.8% of world imports. The comparable figure from a year before was $2,480 billion, or 9.9% of world imports.
“An important silver lining here is that our tracking of export restrictions on food, feed and fertilizers put in place since late February 2022 shows that these have decreased significantly, today covering an estimated trade value of USD 11.8 billion, down from USD 29.6 billion a year ago,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
She stressed that trade has shown resilience to recent shocks, but warned that the global trading environment appears “increasingly fragile.”
The WTO’s World Trade Report 2023 said the economic sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine were expected to have a negative impact on most world economies.
