Draghi worries about US protectionism

Frankfurt

MARIO Draghi has become the latest European policymaker to tell the US that it might be heading down the wrong path on trade.

The European Central Bank (ECB) president used an appearance on Monday to tout the euro area's four-year recovery and say that the key risks are now from external factors. Then he turned his attention to the rhetoric coming from across the Atlantic. "The neo-protectionist stances that have been stated in the United States are certainly of concern."

Mr Draghi was speaking to the European Parliament in Brussels just a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel bemoaned that reliable relationships forged since the end of World War II "are to some extent over", signalling a potentially significant…