Taking Stock of Trade Protectionism Since 2008
The onset of the financial crisis in September 2008 and the subsequent 'Great Trade Collapse' (Baldwin 2009), many countries actively used trade policy instruments as part of their response to the global recession. Governments pursued a m...
Main Authors: | , , |
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Format: | Brief |
Language: | English |
Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2011/12/15535482/taking-stock-trade-protectionism-2008 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10068 |
Summary: | The onset of the financial crisis in
September 2008 and the subsequent 'Great Trade
Collapse' (Baldwin 2009), many countries actively used
trade policy instruments as part of their response to the
global recession. Governments pursued a mix of trade
liberalization, trade promotion, and trade restrictions. The
choice of trade policy has varied, with limited use of
tariff hikes or antidumping and safeguard actions.
Sector-specific support to industries dominated initial
responses to the crisis, and there has been increasing
resort to nontariff measures. Recent research suggests that
vertical specialization the growth in global supply chains
has played a significant role in limiting the use of
traditional protectionist instruments. Pressures on
governments to support domestic economic activity may
increase, given current gloomy economic prospects and more
binding macroeconomic policy constraints, and the number of
protectionist measures has recently risen. Open trade cannot
be taken for granted, thus the need for monitoring persists. |
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