The World Trade Organisation has cut its trade growth forecast for 2013 because of risks from the eurozone crisis and from greater protectionism.
Global trade is now expected to grow by 3.3% this year, down from the organisation's earlier forecast of 4.5%, the BBC reports.
WTO director-general Pascal Lamy said growth should rebound to about 5% next year.
He said countries might turn to protectionism as other attempts to boost growth have been found wanting.
The WTO also warned that the weakness in Europe's economies would continue to weigh on trade.
It said improved economic prospects for the United States in 2013 should only partly offset the continued weakness in the European Union, whose economy is expected to remain flat or even contract slightly this year according to consensus estimates.
China's growth should continue to outpace other leading economies, cushioning the slowdown, but exports will still be constrained by weak demand in Europe, the report added.
The WTO said that trade had grown by just 2% in 2012, the second-worst figure since records began in 1981. The worst performance had come in 2009 when trade shrank.
