Opposition of new protectionism

15 Jan '07

2 min read

Recently, Li Enheng, China's permanent deputy representative to the WTO, said in an exclusive interview, "In recent years, the trend of 'new protectionism' ideas have emerged in the United States, Europe, Japan and other developed countries, their main purposes are to suit their own political and economic needs, to maintain their dominant positions in international competition. This new protectionism has caused a serious impact on China's foreign trade development."

Li Enheng said that in recent years, with the development of economic globalization and the gradual strengthening of the multilateral trading system, the roles of traditional trade protection measures such as tariffs, quotas, permits and other means have been greatly weakened.

Many members of the WTO, especially the developed members, therefore frequently have recourse to various trade protection measures, which on the surface do not directly conflict with international rules.

These measures often appears in the face of so-called promotion of "fair trade", which are necessary to protect human health, ecological environment and the interests of consumers.

The theoretical basis, policy measures, targets and implementation results have notable differences with traditional trade protectionism, thus being dubbed as "new protectionism", "new-mercantilism" or "economic nationalism" and other names.

Li Enheng said that developed members were the main initiators of "new protectionism".

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