Is Protectionism Unavoidable?

I ran into this interesting article at Yale Global Online. The author Jeffrey E. Garten is the Juan Trippe Professor of international trade and finance at the Yale School of Management.

Protectionism is something all leaders warn against after the lessons of the 1930s. Then, of course, one country retaliated against another with trade barriers, driving the world economy into a ditch and helping cause a world war. But talking about the need to resist protectionism and actually stopping it are two different things. Right now, unfortunately, there is no evidence that political leaders are on the case. Moreover, it is highly uncertain they could totally resist protectionist pressures, even if they wanted to. We may be witnessing a classic Greek tragedy.

For supporters of more rather than less trade, of whom I am one, it’s no use just screaming about the evils of protectionism. The premium now is on limiting it as much as realistically possible.

Read it