Strategic Panorama 2009 - 2010 - IEEE

The global recession and its impact on international economic relations
nationalism. Paradoxically, all countries became poorer in the attempt to
protect themselves from poverty.
While awaiting confirmation that the errors of the past are not being
repeated, we may draw a few lessons. The first is that the discipline imposed
by the WTO has been fairly useful in putting a brake on protectionism.
It is allowing tariffs to be raised only as far as the established ceilings and
not above them. It is also granting governments the possibility of resorting
to different safeguard clauses that were designed as escape valves for
situations such as the present and enable countries to temporarily relax
their trade policies without being forced to withdraw from the institution.
These clauses provide temporary protection and are eliminated when the
established period has elapsed, and it is therefore not necessary to start
from scratch in liberalising trade in the good in question.
Another sign of the importance and effectiveness of the WTO is that it
is precisely non-members (like Russia and Algeria) which are hampering
the international free movement of goods, services and investments the
most. We also find that in areas where the coverage of WTO regulations is
limited or non-existent (financial system bail outs, programmes of public
purchases, export subsidies and entry restrictions on workers) more measures
against free trade are being implemented. International regulation
needs to be strengthened in these areas.
Lastly, it should be stressed that the WTO is doing the important job of
overseeing the trade policies of its member states; this is particularly significant
bearing in mind the lack of transparency that usually accompanies
non-tariff barriers. Since the crisis erupted it has published several reports
monitoring all the protectionist measures fostered by governments and
has created a database with the tariff levels of its member states. All this
information is freely available on its website (www.wto.org). In addition the
website www.globaltradealert.org also monitors the protectionist measures
implemented by countries.
But not everything can be attributed to the WTO’s skills. The very dynamic
of globalisation has modified the political economics of protectionism.
On the one hand, considerably fewer workers are employed in farming and
the traditional manufacturing sector today than in the 1930s, and there is
consequently less protectionist pressure. But in addition, although governments
continue to come up against pressure from lobbies that hinder
imports, other pressure groups have sprung up which oppose the closing
of borders. They are chiefly multinationals that import intermediate goods
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