Merkel Warns G20 Countries Against Protectionism

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is blasting trade protectionism as she prepares to host the Group of 20 summit in July, arguing that countries can only weaken themselves by trying to withdraw from international competition.

Merkel told a G-20-related business gathering in Berlin on Wednesday that people may expect short-term advantages from protectionism — but “in the middle and long term their own ability to innovate is weakened, because new ideas and developments flourish best in an environment of freedom and openness.”



Merkel didn’t name any single person or country but pointed to the difficulty of making progress in the G-20.

She said that, for example, some are reluctant to revisit previous statements on climate change and trade — “sometimes holding on to what has been achieved is already a success.”

via Mainichi

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza