Trade policy is set by domestic political bargaining between globalists and protectionists, representing owners of factors specific to export and import-competing sectors respectively. Consistent with the post-Civil War Era of Restriction, protectionists implement high tariffs when status quo...

This paper examines the various arguments that have been put forth in favor of protectionism, from both an accounting and philosophical perspective. The author concludes that arguments against free trade are based on faulty premises, illogical reasoning or incorrect facts. Part 2. This paper was...

This paper assesses the major developments in U.S. trade policies since the creation of the WTO in 1995. It is based in large measure on the fourth biannual (1996) WTO Trade Policy Review of the United States and updated through 1997. The discussion and assessments include in particular: the...

President George W. Bush ran on a platform of free trade during the 2000 election. Yet shortly after he took office he started engaging in protectionist trade practices. The 30 percent tariffs imposed on steel and Canadian lumber were only two of the most noticeable examples of practicing...

This article examines protectionism from a number of perspectives. Part One provides some general background information describing present Japanese-American trade policy. Part Two does the same for Korean-American trade policy. Part Three offers some concluding observations

This paper examines the effect of a change in U.S. trade policy on the domestic investment of U.S. manufacturers. Using a difference-in-differences identification strategy, we find that industries more exposed to reductions in import tariff uncertainty exhibit relative declines in investment...

There has been great focus in the recent trade theory literature on the introduction of firm heterogeneity into trade models. However, these models tend to rely heavily on symmetry assumptions and assume melting iceberg transport costs as the only form of trade restrictions. Moreover, a standard...

The Trump Administration has pursued a sharply different – and for its trade partners unsettling – trade policy from that followed by the United States in the postwar period. While much attention has been focussed on the oftentimes contradictory, oftentimes theoretically unfounded, and...

How does import protection affect export performance? In trade models with scale economies, import liberalization can reduce industry-level exports by cutting domestic production. We show that this export destruction mechanism reduced US export growth following the permanent normalization of...