Yesterday the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsieng Loong, reasserted the mutually damaging effects of protectionism upon trade, confirming what we all know- protectionist measures hurt everyone and ultimately are self-defeating.

Speaking at the APEC CEO Summit at Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore, the message should strike a resounding, although slightly uncomfortable, note with many of the officials attending from the APEC member states. Despite repeated pledges to the contrary, an International Policy Network briefing paper released today shows that 18 of APEC’s 21 members are guilty of implementing protectionist measures in the last 12 months. Even worse is that two major APEC players, the U.S and China, are implementing tit-for-tat trading restrictions in an ongoing political dispute between Washington and Beijing, impacting people in China and the United States but also everywhere else.

The ability of APEC economies to drive and sustain future economic growth depends upon member states listening to and acting upon Mr Hsieng Loong’s wise words. After all, APEC member have prospered hugely as a result of free trading and a slip back in to the “us versus them” approach to international trade will only serve to harm the economic prospects of a region rebounding well from the global economic downturn.