The World Trade Organization (WTO) will step up monitoring of protectionist trade policies amid rising fears that nations will make the economic crisis worse by retreating from open markets _ as they did during the Great Depression, The Associated Press reported. At a meeting today, WTO chief Pascal Lamy told trade ambassadors there have been few examples of new trade restrictions since financial markets declined steeply late last year. But, he added, «we are still at only an early stage in the policy response around the world to the economic recession, and I believe that we must remain vigilant.» Business and political leaders have expressed worry over the threat of protectionism _ for example at last month's World Economic Forum _ but much of the fear so far is speculative. Most attention has focused on «Buy American» provisions concerning steel and manufactured goods in the U.S. stimulus package, and whether they would unfairly hurt foreign producers. The fear of policy-makers and businessmen is that Washington _ and others _ may revert to the strategy employed at the beginning of the Great Depression, when the U.S. Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930 raised tariffs on thousands of goods to protect American businesses. The act led to worldwide retaliation and the devastation of international commerce.
