With only a few months left before his term as director-general of the World Trade Organisation ends, Pascal Lamy has spoken his mind about the rising threat of protectionism. On Wednesday he said that such risks “may be greater now than at any time since the start of the crisis”. This is an important warning, which governments would be wrong to dismiss.

Mr Lamy was commenting on a string of gloomy data, showing that world trade grew just 2 per cent in 2012, the second-worst performance since records began in 1981. Trade flows are expected to rise faster this year, but only by 3.3 per cent. This is below the average for the past two decades, which has stood at 5.3 per cent.

Weak growth, especially in the developed world, is the main culprit. The economic malaise in Europe, which accounts for 32 per cent of global imports, means that consumers and businesses are cutting back on foreign goods and services. Import growth in emerging markets is strong, but their exports are constrained by weak demand in the EU and Japan.