BERLIN, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Roberto Azevedo, director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), has appealed to the German government to help protect the rules-based international system of free trade.

Speaking in Berlin on Tuesday, Azevedo emphasized that his Geneva-based organization was counting on Berlin specifically and the European Union (EU) more broadly to halt a worrying trend towards growing protectionism in the global economy.

The WTO director-general stressed that "open markets are absolutely fundamental for the economy, here in Germany and everywhere else". And he asked for "more dialogue", both directly between countries as well as through the WTO.

Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump told the news agency Bloomberg that an EU offer to phase out all tariffs on automotive products exchanged between the two major economic blocs was "not good enough".

Azevedo thanked Merkel "for her leadership in supporting trade and the trading system", but warned that a spiraling trade war would lead to losses in growth, stability and jobs.

Azevedo called on all parties involved to "work together to strengthen the trading system".

So far, Trump insists that cost increases caused by his tariffs are "almost unnoticeable" and that U.S. protectionism has put the country in a "very strong bargaining position, with billions of dollars, and jobs, flowing into our country".

Trump's statements directly contradict assessments by economists and political scientists who have pointed to evidence of the partial shifting of production by companies outside of the United States and deteriorating diplomatic relations between Washington and its traditional allies.