Over Half of COVID-Related Trade Restrictions Have Been Rolled Back by G-20 Economies, WTO Says

G-20 economies have scaled down their COVID-19-related trade restrictions and showed restraint in putting in place new ones, the World Trade Organization said in a Trade Monitoring Report on G-20 trade measures. The value of trade covered by pandemic-related restrictions, however, exceeds the value under trade-facilitating measures, WTO said. The report shows that from mid-May to mid-October, G-20 economies continued to roll back restrictions adopted at the start of the pandemic, but that trade restrictions coverage is still nearly double that of trade-facilitating measures. Fifty-four percent of 144 COVID-19 restrictive measures had been eased by mid-October, but 18 trade restrictions still remain in place, 17 of them export restrictions, the WTO said.