WTO asks Germany to help protect rules-based system of free trade
Xinhua
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BERLIN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Roberto Azevedo, director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), appealed to the German government on Tuesday to help protect the rules-based international system of free trade.

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World Trade Organization (WTO) chief Roberto Azevedo addresses the audience during a conference organized by the Federation of German Industries (BDI) on September 25, 2018 in Berlin. (Photo: AFP)

Speaking in Berlin, Azevedo emphasized that his Geneva-based organization was counting on Berlin specifically and the European Union (EU) more broadly to halt a worrying trend towards growing protectionism in the global economy.

The WTO director general hereby noted that highly-export oriented German firms were particularly endangered by the "America First" doctrine of US President Donald Trump.

Earlier, Trump told the news agency Bloomberg that an EU offer to phase out all tariffs on automotive products exchanged between the two major economic blocs was "not good enough".

Aside from tensions between the EU and the United States over trade, however, Azevedo also condemned a recent move by Washington to impose a further raft of protectionist tariffs against China.

He expressed "great concern" over the development and predicted that a spiraling trade war would lead to losses in growth, economic certainty and jobs in all parties involved.

So far, Trump insists that cost increases caused by his tariffs are "almost unnoticeable" and that US protectionism has already put the country in a "very strong bargaining position, with Billions of Dollars, and Jobs, flowing into our Country".

His statements directly contradict assessments by economists and political scientists who have pointed to evidence of the partial shifting of production by companies outside of the United States and deteriorating diplomatic relations between Washington and its traditional allies.