Outgoing trade, industry & competition minister Ebrahim Patel has dismissed criticism that he ushered in protectionist trade policies, insisting that his interventions were an appropriate response to a trade environment fraught with challenges. 

“I would say two things,” Patel told Business Times this week. “The first is that the narrative around protectionism is factually misplaced and, perhaps more importantly, it is outdated. The commentariat that is still stuck in a language of 10 years ago does not understand that the world has changed very fundamentally.”..

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