G-20 leaders reject protectionism, pledge to avoid new trade barriers

, Nov. 15 Kyodo -
Leaders of the world's major industrialized and emerging economies pledged
Saturday to reject protectionism and to avoid raising new trade barriers,
mirroring U.S. President George W. Bush's repeated warnings not to fall victim
to inward policies at a time of global financial turmoil.

''We underscore the critical importance of rejecting protectionism and not
turning inward in times of financial uncertainty,'' the Group of 20 leaders
said in a joint declaration following a two-day financial summit in Washington
hosted by the U.S. leader.
Within the next 12 months, the world leaders also agreed to ''refrain from
raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services, imposing
new export restrictions, or implementing World Trade Organization inconsistent
measures to stimulate exports.''
Leaders of the G-20 economies also included a commitment to work towards a
framework for the year-end target to conclude divisive global trade talks of
the WTO's Doha Round, which collapsed in Geneva in July due mainly to discord
between the United States on one side and China and India on the other.
''We shall strive to reach agreement this year on modalities that leads to a
successful conclusion to the WTO's Doha Development Agenda with an ambitious
and balanced outcome,'' the declaration said.
But the statement fell short of specifying when the trade ministers will meet
again to revive the long-running free trade negotiations.
Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa admitted opinion on the WTO
negotiations is still divided, but said adverse economic conditions and the
challenges in reaching a year-end agreement underscored the need for top-level
reaffirmation of a commitment to the trade talks.
''(We agreed) now is the time to quickly start WTO (negotiations),'' Nakagawa
told reporters in Washington, citing fears of exclusionism due to the recent
economic and financial turmoil.
''Each country confirmed the resolve to work toward holding ministerial- and
top-level (talks) for a new round of WTO (negotiations) as early as possible,''
he said.
The sharp tone against protectionism is a key element of the financial summit
repeatedly highlighted by Bush, who has been visibly wary of growing calls for
more government intervention and tighter regulations on the crippled financial
system, particularly by European nations.
''The temptation in times of economic stress will be to say, oh, trade isn't
worth it, let's just throw up protective barriers,'' Bush said at a press
conference after the summit.
''And yet that attitude was rejected, thankfully,'' he said.
The U.S. leader, whose eight-year term ends on Jan. 20, 2009, has emphasized
that the current financial and credit crisis sparked by the U.S. subprime
mortgage turmoil does not represent ''a failure of the free market system'' and
has advocated free and open market policies to steer the faltering economy from
recession to growth.
At a separate post-summit press conference, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso
also highlighted the G-20 rejection of protectionism as one of the key
achievements of the meeting.
The G-20 consists of the Group of Seven major industrialized countries --
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- plus
Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Mexico,
Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the European Union.
==Kyodo