Sunday, January 3, 2010

Is the post-crash world more protectionist?

The Centre for Economic Policy Research in London thinks so and is trying to track the trends.

To do this, the Centre set up Global Trade Alert, which is supported by the World Bank and other international organizations. GTA's mission is to "provide information in real time on state measures taken during the current global economic downturn that are likely to discriminate against foreign commerce." So far, GTA has identified over 600 protectionist measures taken since November 2008 (if I read that correctly).

Their most recent report is: The Unrelenting Pressure of Protectionism: The 3rd GTA Report: A Focus on the Asia Pacific Region. You can find a summary HERE. One finding is that "discriminatory foreign subsidies have limited the contraction of Japanese exports during the crisis."


The Coordinator for GTA, Simon Evenett, will be in Washington this week. He will be speaking at the Washington International Trade Association program on Thursday, January 7th, THE 'P' WORD: MEASURING RISING PROTECTIONISM IN GLOBAL TRADE.

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