G20 countries all talk, no action on trade openness, says ICC report

PARIS - Despite repeated pledges to enable trade as a driver of growth and job creation, G20 economies are failing to demonstrate global leadership on trade openness according to the ICC Open Markets Index 2015 (OMI) published today.
The report - commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) - shows that G20 nations rank below the global standard in terms of openness to trade, with only Germany placing among the world's top 20 open markets.

Singapore and Hong Kong head the 2015 rankings for the third successive edition of the report, far outstripping major economies such as the United States in terms of trade openness.
The Index scores 75 countries on a scale of one to six on four key factors: observed trade openness, trade policy, openness to foreign direct investment and trade-enabling infrastructure. In doing so, the Index also monitors government follow through on longstanding G20 commitments to boost global trade flows, including pledges made at last year's leaders' Summit in Brisbane, Australia.
The Index reveals that 16 of the G20 economies score only average or below average in terms of their overall openness to trade. The two lowest-scoring G20 economies are Brazil and India - though both economies have seen an increase in their score from last year.
The European Union is shown outperforming the United States in terms of trade openness. www.iccwbo.org