The European Commission's Trade and Investment Barriers Report, which was published on Monday, said that 23 non-EU countries had put in place 45 new trade barriers in 2018, bringing the total number to a record high of 425 measures in 59 different countries.

According to the report, China and Russia had the most "problematic" trade measures overall, with 37 and 34 respectively.

In 2018, most barriers were erected in China and Algeria, with five each, followed by the United States and India, both on four, with the greatest impact on the IT sector and precious and non-precious metals.

Overall, the new barriers put in place last year had affected or risked affecting 51.4 billion euros of EU exports.

However, the report also revealed that 123 foreign measures had been eliminated since the start of the current Commission in 2014, leading to 6.1 billion euros of extra EU exports in 2018.