Murky Protectionism

		EBook  The collapse of global trade, murky protectionism, and the crisis: Recommendations for the G20 Edited by Richard Baldwin (Graduate Institute) and Simon Evenett (St. Gallen University)   _______________________________________________

When G20 leaders met in November 2008 in Washington, trade was a side issue; urgent efforts focused on stabilising financial systems and kick-starting economies. When world leaders will meet again at the London Summit in April 2009, trade should move to centre stage.

Trade is experiencing a sudden, severe and globally synchronised collapse. Protectionist forces have already emerged, and as the recession gets worse, they will strengthen. The protection, however, is not 1930s-style tariffs. It is murky protectionism – seemingly benign, crisis-linked policies that are twisted to favour domestic firms, workers, and investors. A negative feedback between recession and protectionism is no longer an historical reminiscence of the 1930s; it is a possible – hopefully low probability – scenario in the months and years to come.

In this EBook leading trade policy practitioners and experts – including Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo – analyze recent trends in international trade and the emerging protectionist measures and put forth several concrete proposals for April’s London Summit to revitalize trade. The proposed steps would let G20 leaders get out in front of the crisis and reduce the chance that an avalanche of murky protectionism could hinder the global recovery.

Authors

Jagdish Bhagwati (Colombia University), Simon Crean (Australian Minister for Trade), Victor K. Fung (International Chamber of Commerce and Li & Fung Group, Hong Kong), Anne Krueger (former Deputy Managing Director, IMF), Luis Alberto Moreno (Inter-American Development Bank), Hadi Soesastro (Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta), Ernesto Zedillo (former President of Mexico) and the African Development Bank Secretariat, Marc Auboin (WTO Secretariat), Chad P. Bown (Brandeis University), Biswajit Dhar (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade), Simon Evenett (University of St. Gallen and CEPR), Peter Gallagher (Institute for International Trade), Elisa Gamberoni (World Bank and Graduate Institute), Frédéric Jenny (ESSEC and Cour de Cassation), Abdul Kamara (African Development Bank), Tonia Kandiera (African Development Bank), Guoqiang Long (Development Research Centre, China), Gerard McLinden (World Bank), Andre Meloni Nassar (Brazilian Institute for International Trade Negotiations), Léonce Ndikumana (African Development Bank), Richard Newfarmer (World Bank), Steven L. Schooner (George Washington University), Andew L. Stoler (University of Adelaide), Stefan Tangermann (former Director for Trade and Agriculture, OECD), Alberto Trejos (former Minsiter of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica), John Whalley (CIGI and University of Western Ontario), Kei-Mu-Yi (Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank) and Christopher R. Yukins (George Washington University)

Richard Baldwin		Simon J. Evenett
Richard Baldwin is editor in chief of VoxEU. He is also Professor of Economics at the Graduate Institute, Geneva and CEPR Policy Director.		Simon Evenett is Professor of Economics at St Gallen University and Co-Director of the CEPR Programme in International Trade and Regional Economics.