Putin warns protectionism risks global economic crisis

SAINT PETERSBURG: Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Friday that the world could be heading for an unprecedented economic crisis due to the confrontational trade policy and protectionism being pursued by the United States.

Without directly naming US President Donald Trump, who has slapped on tariffs and pulled out of trade deals, Putin lamented that a new era of protectionism was emerging and “breaking” the free trade system responsible for global prosperity. “Today we need not trade wars or even trade truces, but trade peace,” Putin told an economic summit in Saint Petersburg, also attended by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Emmanuel Macron. Global trade rules “should be clear and the same for all”. But “breaking the rules is becoming the rule,” Putin said in another apparent jab at Trump, who has abandoned a Pacific free trade deal and forced a renegotiation of the US pact with Canada and Mexico. The Kremlin leader said that a combination of sanctions, trade barriers and a lack of trust was hugely dangerous and “could lead to a systemic crisis the likes of which the world has not seen before.” Putin also appeared to take a poke at the United States justifying tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars using national security concerns. “Today we are talking about a new type of protectionism, about the use of clear pretexts of protecting national security. For what? To pressure competitors or wringing out concessions,” said Putin.