And so it is quite understandable that some might feel that globalisation and technical progress are threatening their economic livelihood. More protectionism, however, would be the wrong answer on how to maintain our welfare.
The WTO recently announced that it expects global trade to grow by only 1.7% in 2016 – which is about 1 PP lower than in 2015 and the lowest rate since the crisis year of 2009.1 While for a long time, trade grew twice as fast as GDP, it has now fallen below the GDP growth rate for the first time in 15 years.