'Beware protectionism' says WTO head
Updated on 27 January 2009
The head of the World Trade Organisation exclusively warns this programme that anti-globalisation forces stalk the recession.
Go it alone policies won't solve the world's economic crisis, they'll just make it worse.
That is the warning from Pascal Lamy, the man in charge of defending the world's free trade system.
Speaking exclusively to Channel 4 News, he raised concerns about the string of car and bank bailouts around the world, as they could mark the beginning of a return to protectionism.
And he's waiting to see whether President Obama will be as committed to free trade as previous American administrations.
Exclusive interview: Pascal Lamy
Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade Organisation said that he saw "small waves of protectionism here and there", but "nothing dramatic, so far".
He said the WTO was an "insurance policy" against 1930s-style protectionism.
Negotiations over the Doha trade round were 80 per cent done, he said but he recognised 'pessimism' on the hopes for a completion of trade talks this year, pointing specifically to 'some remaining uncertainty on the US position'.
When pressed as to whether the pressure was on President Obama, he suggested that the new administration were still determining 'the right trade policy for the years to come for the USA'.
On global bailout packages
"There are planes that won't fly, ships that won't sail, cars that won't be sold. Does this mean that open trade is wrong? No, it means that there is an adjustment problem between supply and demand.
"And if you look at that from the side of developing countries who, by definition, cannot afford big bailout packages simply because they don't have the money - let's not make a system we have been trying in recent years to make more development friendly, let's not make it development adverse.
"That's at the end of the day the crucial collective question which WTO members and G20 members have to look at."
On completing Doha this year
"I will try my best to fulfil the collective determination to finish this year, whether we will succeed or not I don't know, I believe with some remaining uncertainty of the US position it remains possible."
On President Obama
"The pressure is on all WTO members, but we know by experience that a new US administration takes a bit of time before making a determination on what is the right trade policy for the years to come for the United States of America."
On signs of protectionism
"For the moment there's been nothing dramatic, that doesn't mean we don't have small waves of protectionism here and there,' says Lamy, identifying some of the detail of planned bailout packages, and a rise in anti-dumping complaints.
"The go-it-alone route was tried in the 20th century in the 1930s. It resulted in a terrible mess. In today's very interdependent world the go-it-alone solution does not work. You have to work on this collectively, you have to consult with others and you have to abide by the rules of the international system.
"As a lesson of history let's not forget what we know has happened when the beggar-thy-neighbour policies were put in place. It was a mess. Let's not make the present mess even worse by recoursing to these sorts of policies."
