The Risk of Murky Trade Protectionism in an Interconnected and Uncertain Global Economy
This paper is neither about free trade nor protectionism. It is about the point where the two may converge. One distinctive aspect of rising protectionism over the last decade is that it is occurring against a backdrop of increased global interconnectivity. Over the past three decades, countries around the world have become more integrated through preferential trade agreements (PTAs) and global value chains (GVCs), while simultaneously erecting new trade barriers. What explains these contradictory trajectories? The literature on the political economy of trade protectionism readily shows that PTAs promote trade interdependences; it also offers compelling arguments about the circumstances under which governments are prompted to protect their economies. However, we have little evidence on how these two trajectories are occurring at once. This paper offers new evidence that institutional mechanisms like PTAs, which for decades have fueled the diffusion of trade liberalization, can also become channels for the spread of less-transparent protectionism (e.g., Non–Tariff Measures).
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| Format: | Digital revista |
| Language: | eng |
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Universidad de Chile. Instituto de Estudios Internacionales
2023
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| Online Access: | https://revistaei.uchile.cl/index.php/REI/article/view/70690 |
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