Canada fingers Russia as G20 trade offender

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada singled out Russia on Friday as one country that should unwind trade barriers erected during the financial crisis as part of a G20 pledge in favor of free trade to support the global economic recovery.

In an interview with Reuters, Trade Minister Peter Van Loan said leaders from the Group of 20 emerging and advanced economies meeting in Toronto this weekend should be held accountable for their promise not to adopt protectionist measures, endorsed at the Pittsburgh summit last September.

"So I hope there will be a commitment by countries that are appearing here who have instituted protectionist measures, such as Russia with their tariffs, to actually roll them back and adhere to those commitments at Pittsburgh," Van Loan said.

Russia was high on the list of protectionist offenders spotlighted in a Global Trade Alert (GTA) report by independent economists this week. It said Russia passed a series of anti-crisis measures in 2009, imposed temporary tariffs on certain types of machinery as well as subsidized loans to some machinery makers, and approved preferences for domestic producers in a government procurement law.

The report said the European Union has adopted the biggest number of new protectionist measures.

Another report by the World Trade Organization said the number of new trade measures was falling.

A draft G20 communique dated June 11 said the G20 would pledge to extend a commitment not to raise barriers to investment or trade for three more years, through 2013, and unwind new measures erected during the crisis.

But Van Loan said he did not expect leaders to go much further than upholding their previous commitments on trade.

"I don't expect a big changes from what's been discussed in advance on the trade front," he said. "My expectation is you'll see general wording along the lines of resisting protectionism and opening trade opportunities," he said.

(Reporting by Louise Egan)