Are Trade Barriers on the Rise?

Just returned from a presentation on rising protectionism in global trade. The presentation featured findings of the Global Trade Alert Project and featured Simon Evenett, an economist involved in the Global trade alert project and Ed Gresser, a staff economist with the Democratic Leadership Conference.

The audience was very international with many Embassies represented. My impression was that they were expecting to hear only about U.S. protectionist measures. Instead, most of their countries were also fingered as culprits. Only Canada seemed to get a pass.

According to Evenett, the world's governments have implemented 297 “beggar-thy-neighbour” policy measures since last November; that is, more than one for every working day. Developed countries were responsible for imposing 184 of these protectionist measures.

Evenett believes the nature of trade barriers is changing. In addition to the usual anti-dumping and countervailing duties, more countries are offering bailouts and subsidies to domestic industries. He also cited an uptick in “buy national” requirements in public procurement legislation as was included in the U.S. stimulus package. Evernett predicts high unemployment to continue with the consequence of more protectionism.

There was an interesting suggestion by an audience member recommending that the Global Trade Alert Project study the impact of technical and regulatory measures (can you say Lacey Act and CARB?) as barriers to trade.

Ed Gresser presented the flip side of the issue. He dismissed bail-outs of the U.S. auto industry and financial institutions as protectionism.

To quote from its Website, “Whether interested in "naming and shaming" protectionist governments, in detailed country and sectoral information on beggar-thy-neighbour policies, or in up-to-date analyses of commercial policymaking in leading Asian nations, Global Trade Alert provides a fresh, independent perspective on crisis-era protectionism.”


View the presentation and learn more about the Global Trade Alert Project at http://www.globaltradealert.org/