Like all crises in the past, the economic downturn of 2008 - 2009 caused some frictions in the international trading system. Import tariffs, the traditional instrument for protecting domestic industries, however, have not played the primary role in this, particularly not in industrialised...

The G20 summit in London offers an opportunity for world leaders to prevent a continued slide towards protectionism. Yet the summit is already at risk of ending in failure as expectations run too high. The agenda is already far too wide and cover areas characterized by sharp differences of...