Removing trade barriers through World Trade Organization and other negotiations promises to lift millions of people around the world out of poverty. Maintaining protectionist practices hurts millions, especially in the developing world, by preventing sustained economic expansion. While developed countries need to drop their own protectionist practices, developing countries stand to gain the most benefits by removing their protectionist barriers to imports from each other. Protectionism bolsters the politically designated few while harming the many; the problem and the solution are political. This issue of eJournal USA has articles from authors inside and outside the U.S. government describing the benefits of trade and the costs of protectionism.
Opening trade fuels growth and raises millions of people out of poverty.
Responding to political pressure, governments protect their producers from imports. As the problem of protectionism is political, so must the solution be.
Fully half of the benefits to developing countries from stalled multilateral trade negotiations would come from getting better access to each other's markets.
Most changes in the workplace leading to job displacement can be attributed to advances in technology, but it is increasing imports that attract more blame.
War-ravaged East Asian economies briefly used protectionist policies to revive their economies, but opening their markets to imports realized enduring rapid expansion.
The difference in economic development between the former Soviet bloc countries that have opened their markets and those that have not done so is sharp and revealing.
For the first time, the World Economic Forum, known for tracking business climate around the world, has ranked countries on their trade-enabling environment.
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