Big slide in global trade looms over G-20 meeting

Big slide in global trade looms over G-20 meeting
Big slide in global trade and rise in protectionism worry analysts as G-20 leaders meet
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Big-slide-in-global-trade-apf-14791765.html

(Source Yahoo Finance)
GENEVA (AP) -- With global trade sliding, analysts say some of the world's most powerful leaders may need to offer more than ritual support for open markets when they meet this week if they are to steady a teetering economy and avoid a damaging retreat to protectionism.
The presidents, prime ministers and chancellors of the Group of 20 nations have halfheartedly respected their pledge of four months ago to avoid turning inwards in fighting the economic crisis. Since then, world commerce has plummeted in a way unseen since the Great Depression.
With no concerted strategy for a revival, some economists say a rash of go-it-alone stimulus packages and industry bailouts could lead to trade wars -- causing havoc in one of the key driving forces to the world's economic growth since World War II.

"We're playing with fire," said Jagdish Bhagwati, an economist at Columbia University. "The system was designed to avoid the free-for-all wrestling of the 1930s. If the U.S. and France start saying, 'This is legal so I am going to do it,' everyone else will start to play that game."
The World Trade Organization says most of the major powers -- from the United States and European Union to China and India -- have erected new barriers to imports in the form of tariffs, subsidies or other measures designed to protect domestic industries. Read article...