MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The WTO Director-General’s mid-year report on trade-related developments was discussed at today's meeting of the WTO’s Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB).
"Between mid-October 2015 and mid-May 2016 ("review period"), WTO Members applied 154 new trade-restrictive measures, amounting to 22 new measures per month… WTO Members must individually and collectively resist protectionist pressures. The best safeguard we have against protectionism is a strong multilateral trading system," the report reads.
According to the report, the monthly average of trade-restrictive measures in the review period hit a five-year high. In addition, WTO members initiated a higher number of trade remedy investigations, taken on a monthly basis, during this review period than in the last.
The WTO is a global international organization that regulates international trade. It has 163 member-states.
