EU business: Global growth at risk on trade battlefields

- B20 warns against protectionism and unilateralism -

At today’s B20 Summit in Tokyo, global business leaders of the private sector's voice of the G20 economies warned against the rise in protectionism around the world and the increasing opposition to trade.

BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer said in Tokyo: “We must avoid trade conflicts where each side tries to play by its own rules. A ‘winner takes it all’ attitude will end in a battlefield of losers on all sides. Trade wars are extremely dangerous for companies around the world, which are relying on global value chains and the ability to choose from the best and most competitive goods and services.

The current trade war looming between major trading partners already puts economic growth in 2019 at risk and would make businesses, consumers and workers poorer in Europe and globally.

Companies around the globe need predictability even in an era of technological disruption and high-speed digitalisation.

We need to make sure that protectionism and unilateralism will not become the ‘new normal’. The World Trade Organisation is a central pillar of today’s rules-based trading order. We need to reform it, make it more effective and able to respond to challenges posed by state-centric economies, including subsidies and the prominent role of state-owned enterprises.” 

Read B20 Tokyo Summit Joint Recommendations "Society 5.0 for SDGs".