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International Trade - Theory and Policy, 2010a

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We examine the effects of optimal tariffs <strong>and</strong> retaliation more formally by using a simple game theory<br />

setup. Suppose the players in the game are the governments of two large countries, the United States <strong>and</strong><br />

Brazil. Suppose the United States imports a set of products (A, B, C, etc.) from Brazil, while Brazil imports<br />

a different set of products (X, Y, Z, etc.) from the United States. We imagine that each country’s<br />

government must choose between two distinct trade policies, free trade <strong>and</strong> optimal tariffs. Each policy<br />

choice represents a game strategy. If the United States chooses free trade, then it imposes no tariffs on<br />

imports of goods A, B, C, <strong>and</strong> so on. If the United States chooses optimal tariffs, then it determines the<br />

optimal tariff in each import market <strong>and</strong> sets the tariff accordingly. Brazil is assumed to have the same set<br />

of policy choices available.<br />

In Figure 7.20 "A <strong>Trade</strong> <strong>Policy</strong> Game", U.S. strategies are represented by the two columns; Brazilian<br />

strategies correspond to the two rows. The numbers represent the payoffs to the countries, measured as<br />

the level of national welfare realized in each country in each of the four possible scenarios. For example, if<br />

the United States chooses a free trade policy <strong>and</strong> Brazil chooses to impose optimal tariffs, then the payoffs<br />

are shown in the lower left-h<strong>and</strong> box. The Brazilian payoff is below the diagonal, while the U.S. payoff is<br />

above the diagonal. Thus Brazil gets 120 units of welfare, while the United States gets 70 units.<br />

Note that the size of the numbers used in the example is immaterial, but how they relate to the numbers<br />

in alternate boxes is not. We will use the results from the tariff analysis section to inform us about the<br />

relationship between the numbers.<br />

To begin, let’s assume that each country receives 100 units of national welfare when both the United<br />

States <strong>and</strong> Brazil choose free trade. If Brazil decides to impose optimal tariffs on all of its imports <strong>and</strong> the<br />

Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books<br />

Saylor.org<br />

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