Manufacturers from emerging economies have borne the brunt of protectionist measures introduced since the 2008 global financial crisis, with most of the trade barriers raised by other developing countries, according to the World Bank.
Releasing an annual update of its database on “temporary trade barriers” on Thursday, the bank’s economists said there was evidence that the relatively limited wave of protectionism that followed the crisis had peaked.
But they also warned that manufacturers from China and other emerging economies had been affected by a disproportionate number of those measures. According to the World Bank, 6.4 per cent of China’s exports were subject to anti-dumping measures and other trade barriers introduced by G20 countries at the end of 2013, or more than five times the 1.2 per cent figure for the US.