On March 21, two days before he is set to receive a mandate for the implementation of anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Vietnamese leather footwear, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson told a Brussels conference on sustainable trade policy that there are "no simple text book answers" for developing sustainable trade policy, but that the costs and benefits of liberalisation have to be weighed carefully in each case. Citing the example of agricultural and industrial trade in the Doha Round, Mr Mandelson warned against both a simplistic conviction that trade liberalisation brings automatic economic benefits, and the argument that developing countries cannot benefit from more open markets.

Addressing recent debates in Europe, Mandelson argued that protectionist industrial policy offers short term advantages only at the expense of long term competitiveness. He argued that the choice to open markets to competition had to be balanced by a commitment to helping industries affected adjust: "If we react positively rather then defensively, we win the chance to shape globalisation, rather than being passively shaped by it."

He defended a policy of "progressive liberalisation" which combined "better opportunities to trade through lowering trade barriers with increasing capacities to trade as a result of good governance" including the development of property rights, stable legal systems and effective infrastructure.