STEEL NEWS

EU accuses Russia of trade restriction

Russia is one of the most frequent users of trade restrictive measures during the financial crisis, the European Union (EU)'s executive arm claimed in a report on Monday.

"Among the countries investigated, Russia is once again confirmed as the trading partner with the most trade restrictive measures taken since the start of the crisis," the European Commission said in a report

The latest report is the seventh in a series of reports which the EU has been issuing on trade restrictive measures adopted by its major trade partners since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008.

There were 66 new trade restrictive measures introduced by the EU's trading partners between May and September 2010 and only about 10 percent of the measures taken in the context of the crisis have been withdrawn or have expired, the report claimed.

Despite such claims, the EU was also criticized by emerging economies of making abusive use of trade defense measures against cheap imports.