EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson has been named "protectionist of the month" by Global Growth:

Peter Mandelson went to Brussels riding a wave of goodwill for a new liberalising agenda, promising an era of "free and fair" trade as EU trade commissioner. Less than a year later he has managed to land Europe in a protectionist mess. A continent of 450 million people is permitted to import only 105 million pairs of trousers from China.

As one wit put it, "a shortage of trousers and a surplus of wine is a great strategy for a party, but a crazy way to run Europe's economy". Mandelson's plan for clothes rationing means that domestic producers, who had 10 years to prepare for the opening of the textiles trade to international competition, will be able to continue to charge Europe's consumers high prices for products.

This outright protectionism has been condemned by consumers and commercial groups alike. This year Europe faces a shortage of trousers and jumpers, next year baby clothes will become more expensive, whilst Chinese bras and knickers will kept out of Europe. Madness? No it's protectionism, where political commissars put the interests of influential producers before the interests of the people.

For monumentally failing to live up to his free trade rhetoric, Peter Mandelson is Global Growth's Protectionist of the Month August 2005.