Obama: To Stabilize the Global Economy, We Rejected the Protectionism that Could Deepen the Crisis

"In just my first ten or so weeks as president, we had already passed the recovery act, set in motion plans to rescue our auto industry, stabilized our banks, jump start loans to small businesses, and launch programs to help homeowners refinance and stay in their homes. And our G20 partners would follow with similar actions. To stabilize the global economy, we rejected the protectionism that could deepen the crisis. We cooperated to keep markets open and trade finance flowing and bolster the international financial system’s lending capacity to respond to countries that were hurting the most. And to prevent future crises, we took steps to reform our financial regulatory system, including the historic Wall Street reforms that we passed more than six years ago."