PROTECTIONISM : Part II

No new wave of protectionism yet…  

To be fair, while protectionist sentiment and pressures are rising, there is so far little hard evidence of a new wave of protectionist measures.  In a recent media interview, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy noted that “nothing dramatic” had happened in terms of an increase in protectionism since the start of the crisis in the autumn.  Still, there have been some cases of increased protectionism that might mark the beginning of a new trend.   

Some recent examples include increased state aid to particular industries, most notably the domestic auto industry in a large number of countries (e.g., the US, Germany, France, China, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Russia), tariffs on steel products in India, higher tariffs on 940 products in Ecuador, and other protectionist measures in Indonesia, Argentina, Korea and the EU. 

Moreover, in several countries, governments are leaning on banks that have received capital injections or guarantees to lend predominantly to domestic households and companies rather than financing projects abroad.  With the recession deepening and broadening, further defensive action is likely to be taken by many governments. 

But let´s remember what happened before :

For sure not to be re done !!!