Populism and trade : the challenge to the global trading system

"Populism and Trade traces the role of populist trade policy in the increase of global protectionism and the erosion of international trade institutions. Populist anti-trade rhetoric played a major part in U.S. President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign, in which he portrayed current trade agreements as elitist measures to undermine U.S. manufacturing jobs, economic security, and the interests of the American people. Upon taking office he proceeded to implement trade restrictions that were unprecedented in the era of GATT-WTO rules. His use of national security criteria for unilateral tariffs on steel and aluminum, and his trade war with China represented an abandonment of WTO trade rules and practices. In the United Kingdom, the 2016 Brexit referendum resulted in a vote to leave the European Union, thereby ending the U.K. trade integration arrangement that had begun in 1973. The referendum campaign drew on U.K. criticism of EU intrusion on U.K. sovereignty in presenting the issue in populist terms of elitist control from Brussels set against the interests of the victimized British people. The book develops a conceptual framework of protectionism that links behavioral factors with perceived external threats and voting behavior based on emotion. It also offers a review of trade policies of other populist governments and an assessment of their economic and institutional cost. A concluding chapter provides recommendations for addressing the populist challenge, focusing on adjustment policies, reforms of global trade institutions, and the need to protect domestic democratic processes."