Drumbeats of protectionism sound death knell for free-trade talks

British Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson did not have a lot to say for himself during the World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong in December last year.

Finding little to Britain's liking in the European position he was supposed to defend, he seems to have been happy to let his former parliamentary colleague, EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, do the talking.

But then China's Trade Minister Bo Xilai was keeping a fairly low profile at the WTO, too. Beijing seemed to be having a torrid enough time dealing with the commitments it had recently signed up to under the WTO agreements, without wanting to take the lead in asking for more.

How things have changed in the interim.

Mr Johnson (right) this week found himself attacking the United States for protectionism and hypocrisy. He spoke at a conference on globalisation as US Congress pressed ahead with reforms which will put many more foreign companies in the position faced by Dubai Ports World, China's offshore oil business CNOOC and others: of having their proposed acquisition of US strategic assets subjected to scrutiny and likely rejection because of exaggerated and sometimes spurious security fears.

'There can't be one set of rules when your team plays away and a different set of rules when they play at home,' he said. 'Such hypocrisy makes global progress impossible. How can the richest countries in the world lecture others about the gains from liberalisation whilst adding further barriers to entering their own markets?'