Sunday 05 April 2020 4:08 pm

Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab urge world leaders to avoid protectionist trade policies

HERTFORD, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 04: US President Donald Trump (front) with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson onstage during the annual Nato heads of government summit on December 4, 2019 in Watford, England. France and the UK signed the Treaty of Dunkirk in 1947 in the aftermath of WW2 cementing a mutual alliance in the event of an attack by Germany or the Soviet Union. The Benelux countries joined the Treaty and in April 1949 expanded further to include North America and Canada followed by Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. This new military alliance became the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). The organisation grew with Greece and Turkey becoming members and a re-armed West Germany was permitted in 1955. This encouraged the creation of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact delineating the two sides of the Cold War. This year marks the 70th anniversary of NATO. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab have warned world leaders not to implement protectionist policies during the coronavirus crisis after Donald Trump halted millions of face masks being exported to Germany.

Raab wrote an article on behalf of himself, Johnson and international trade secretary Liz Truss to urge G7 and G20 leaders to “keep trade routes open” and to avoid “damaging protectionism”.

A shipment of three million face masks from US company 3M, that were being exported to Germany, were reportedly confiscated over the weekend in Bangkok.

The Trump administration is said to have put a halt to the shipment under a Korean War era trade law.

Berlin’s interior minister Andreas Geisel accused the President of “modern piracy”.

Raab, while not referencing the incident directly, wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that developed countries must not revert to trade protectionism during the Covid-19 outbreak.

He said: “The Prime Minister, trade secretary and I are pressing the G7 and G20 groups of major economies to keep trade routes open – and avoid compounding the harm of Covid-19 with damaging protectionism.

“Team-work is essential to beating coronavirus. The Prime Minister is determined to unite the country behind the national mission at home, and bring countries together abroad – so we rise to a global challenge that threatens us all.”