The collapse of global trade, murky protectionism, and the crisis:

Recommendations for the G20

Edited by Richard Baldwin and Simon Evenett
Graduate Institute, Geneva and CEPR; University of St. Gallen and CEPR
UK Centre for Economic Policy Research CEPR 2009

Available online as PDf file [115p.] at: http://www.graduateinstitute.ch/webdav/site/iheid/shared/iheid/31/Murky_Protectionism.pdf

“…..When G20 leaders met last November in Washington, trade was a side issue; urgent efforts focused on stabilising financial systems and kick-starting economies. When leaders meet at the London Summit in April 2009, trade must move to centre stage.

Trade is experiencing a sudden, severe and globally synchronised collapse (see Figure 1). Protectionist forces have already emerged and will strengthen as the recession gets worse. But this is not 1930s-style protection. Governments’ crisis-fighting measures have spawned new, murkier forms of protection which discriminate against foreign firms, workers and investors – often in subtle ways. The use of WTO-legal protection, such as antidumping measures, is also up sharply….”

Contents

Foreword
Introduction and recommendations for the G20

PART I: CAPSTONE ESSAYS

1. Protectionism and the global economic crisis . the role of trade in the response Simon Crean
2. The multilateral trading system: a response to its challengers Ernesto Zedillo
3. Keeping borders open: why is it important for Latin America and what can the region do about it? Luis Alberto Moreno
4. Jobs, global trade and the perils of protectionism: the imperative of restoring confidence Victor K. Fung
5. What can the G20 do on trade that can benefit Africa? African Development Bank Secretariat
6. East Asia must share Obama.s leadership to keep trade open Hadi Soesastro
7. Protectionism and the crisis Anne Krueger
8. The Lithium President: fight protectionism with more passion Jagdish Bhagwati

PART II: IN-DEPTH ANALYSES AND PROPOSALS

9. The collapse of global trade: the role of vertical specialisation Kei-Mu Yi
10. Trade protection: incipient but worrisome trends Elisa Gamberoni and Richard Newfarmer
11. Protectionism is on the rise: antidumping investigations Chad P. Bown
12. Commodities, export subsidies, and African trade during the slump Tonia Kandiero, Abdul Kamara and Léonce Ndikumana
13. G20 surveillance of harmful trade measures Peter Gallagher and Andrew L. Stoler
14. Disavowing protectionism: a strengthened G20 standstill and surveillance
Biswajit Dhar, Simon Evenett, Guoqiang Long, Andre Meloni Nassar, Stefan Tangermann and Alberto Trejos
15. Restoring trade finance: what the G20 can do Marc Auboin
16. Bailouts: how to discourage a subsidies war Simon J. Evenett and Frédéric Jenny
17. Public procurement: focus on people, value for money and systemic integrity, not protectionsim
Steven L. Schooner and Christoper R. Yukins
18. Resist green protectionism . or pay the price at Copenhagen Simon J. Evenett and John Whalley
19. Keep the trade flowing by cutting red tape Gerard McLinden

Related material:
VoxEU ebook
What world leaders should do to halt the spread of protectionism at http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/2651 published December 2008 and launched at meetings in Geneva and London December meeting (at http://www.cepr.org/membership/meetings/2403 ).