Posts tagged…Protection
Krugman’s take on protection
Tue, Jul 13 2010It seems Krugman will say anything to score a point. He wants to argue that insufficient demand (unemployment) is a problem and that redistribution (trade taxes) is not.
"…the attempt to place blame for the Depression on protectionism is a sort of Noble Lie, an attempt to scare people into trade policy that’s good for other reasons" Extract from Hayek, Trade Restrictions, And The Great Depression…
Read more…Rotten ideas about the renminbi
Thu, Mar 18 2010The prospect of a U.S.-China clash over currency controls next month when the U.S. Treasury Secretary is supposed to pronounce on China's 'currency manipulation' has prompted hyperbolic fears (Martin Wolf, in the FT says he "wonders whether the open global economy is going to survive..."!) and at least two feeble plans.
One is from the IMF, which wants a new mandate—although it admits that's not…
Trade-war not likely
Mon, Mar 15 2010Precisely
"Taking a legal case over exchange rate misalignments to the WTO would probably fail, and take years in any case. The only real route left is to unilaterally slap tariffs on Chinese imports to compensate for alleged currency undervaluation. That would be a nuclear option that really could spark the destruction of the postwar world trading system, and it doesn’t look like the US is…
Apple’s patent protectionism
Thu, Mar 04 2010In an action before the U.S. Federal courts and the International Trade Commission, Apple Inc. is attacking a Taiwanese manufacturer of Google's Android Phone for alleged abuse of 20 software patents. It seems the suits are aimed at slowing the growth of competition for the iPhone and, possibly, aimed at Google's proposed web operating system.
The prosecution of software patents, especially…
Good idea or insidious threat?
Tue, Dec 08 2009When an economy has trade leverage, the threat of discriminatory duties need not be simple protectionism.
"The US can help China make the necessary adjustments toward a reduction in imbalances by adopting a uniform tariff of 10 per cent on all Chinese imports, based on their values when they enter the US. Six months after the establishment of this tariff, the rate would increase by one percentage…
Global Trade Alert
Fri, Jul 03 2009
Just before the London G-20 Meeting in April, Andy Stoler and I wrote a paper for a booklet published by the Center for Economic Policy Research in which we suggested that the best way to make G-20 governments live up to their promises was to expose their misdeeds on trade policy—including those that nominally complied with their WTO obligation—using a public website.
Specifically, we recommended…
Anti-dumping actions on the rise
Fri, May 08 2009
Let me first of all get in an 'I told you so'.
Anti-dumping complaints are counter-cyclical. Invariably, the numbers rise, with a lag, as industrial output slumps. We've seen declining levels up to 2007 but now… WTO is reporting a 27% year-on-year rise in the number of investigations.
"The Members reporting the highest number of new initiations during July-December 2008 were India, reporting 42,…
Quibble over ‘slippage’ on protection
Tue, Apr 28 2009Meanwhile in Geneva… the WTO delegations have been debating whether the Secretariat's second report on protectionist measures (issued a month ago) showed 'significant slippage' in Member governments' commitment to hold the line, or not.
The U.S. ambassador disagreed with the proposition that Member governments had begun to default on their promises.
“We understand the danger of an incremental…
China worries about U.S. carbon tariffs
Wed, Apr 22 2009In a speech in the U.S. yesterday, Tung Chee-hwa, vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) hit out at plans for carbon tariffs in the Democrats' bill for emission controls
"A top adviser to the Chinese government on Tuesday warned that a proposed US border tax on carbon sensitive materials ‘smells of protectionism’ and could spark retaliation from developing…
Empty words won’t limit the ‘wriggle room’
Tue, Mar 24 2009Democracy ensures we get the governments we deserve.
Gideon Rachman seems to think we deserve only to be consoled for the political dilemma of G20 leaders rather than offered real solutions to the frailties of the global trade framework. He agrees the problem is the threat of 'wiggle room' protection:
"[I]f the world’s political leaders start deliberately increasing barriers to trade, they will…
Can the G20 get Doha done?
Fri, Mar 20 2009
The EC Commissioner for Trade, Catherine Ashton, gave a talk in the past couple of days to the Carnegie Endowment in Washington in which she urged, among other things, a G20 commitment to the quick resumption and completion of the Doha WTO negotiations.
"To truly deliver on our G20 commitment, we need to turn the rhetoric into reality and complete the Doha Round of world trade talks. This…
A tangle of carbon taxes
Thu, Mar 19 2009A big storm on the horizon… get ready for it
Border tax adjustments ('carbon tariffs') are inevitable once mandatory carbon taxes or emission caps with market value are applied to production. Now, the Obama administration acknowledges that:
"Mr. Chu, speaking before a House science panel, said establishing a carbon tariff would help 'level the playing field' if other countries haven't imposed…