"The World Bank urged the G20 leading developed and developing nations on Tuesday to toughen their stance against protectionism by agreeing to report any new subsidies or trade-restricting measures to the World Trade Organization (WTO) every three months.

'Leaders must not heed the siren-song of protectionist fixes, whether for trade, stimulus packages or bailouts,' World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick said in a statement. 'Economic isolationism can lead to a negative spiral of events such as those we saw in the 1930s, which made a bad situation much, much worse.'..." [Reuters/Factiva]

Xinhua adds that "...since the beginning of the financial crisis, officials have proposed or implemented roughly 78 trade measures, according to the World Bank's monitoring list of trade and trade-related measures. Of these, 66 involved trade restrictions, and 47 trade-restricting measures eventually took effect...." [Xinhua/Factiva]

The Washington Post writes that "...the most obvious trade restrictions -- raising tariffs or taxes on imports -- represent only about a third of all measures taken. Some countries are taking a direct approach....But most are taking more creative steps that fall into the gray area of what is considered legal under international trade law...." [The Washington Post/Factiva]