WTO report on G20 shows moves to facilitate imports even as trade restrictions remain widespread

While import-restrictive measures introduced by Group of 20 (G20) economies continue to cover a growing share of trade, the WTO's latest biannual monitoring report on trade measures — the first to cover a time period coinciding with the coronavirus pandemic — points to significant moves to facilitate imports, including products related to COVID-19. During the mid-October 2019 to mid-May 2020 review period, G20 economies implemented 154 new trade and trade-related measures, 95 of them import-facilitating and 59 import-restrictive. Of these measures, 93 (about 60 per cent) were linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. News item