I HAVE A PRESENTATION TO MY CLASS FOLLOWED BY A QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION. PLEASE HELP ME THINK OF 10 QUESTIONS ABOUT MY ESSAY THAT MIGHT BE ASKED:

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Protectionist Trade Policies :

Nation or sometimes a group of nations working as trade bloc, follows a protectionist trade policy to create trade barriers with specific goal of protecting its economy from possible risk from International trades.

A protectionist trade policy allows local government toprotect the local economy from imports from other countries and boost domestic production of good & services by imposing tariffs or otherwise limiting foreign goods and services by implementing direct or indirect trade barriers.

Protectionist Trade Policies can be :

1. Tariffs
2. Import quotas
3. Domestic & export subsidies
4. Government legislation & regulation
5. Import licensing
6. Intellectual property laws
7. Technical barriers to trade

Some Key International Trade Organizations:

World Trade Organization (WTO), European Union, Organisation of Petroleum exporting countries (OPEC), South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC), Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) etc.

Free Trade agreements between countries.

Some myth in support of Protectionist Trade Policies :

• Create more Industrial growth opportunities for local industries.
• Helps in reduce import levels and allow country to increase its trade balance.
• More jobs due to domestic firms boosting their workforce.
• Tend to boost the economy's GDP due to rise in domestic production.
• Infant industry protection, protection of strategic industries, protection against import dumping, promotes employment
• Stabilising the exchange rate and balance of payments
• Protecting natural resources from being exploited
• Earning government revenue, Maintains standard of living, Diversifying the industrial base

Although there seem some short-term benefits to protectionism such as employment and development of S-Curve industries, there are several major long-term disadvantages of protectionism.

Protectionist Trade Policies major challenges on Industry & Economic :

• Non availability of open new markets.
• No or limits investment opportunity.
• Limits trade activities and Increase trade cost.
• Short- and Long-term impacts on Trade and limits opportunities for Liberalization.
• Deters foreign investments and technologies.

Protectionist Trade Policies Issues and risk on Industry :

Higher product prices, Products may decline in quality, Limited choice of products, Global technological progress slowed down, Market forces cannot work properly, Less price pressures, Business less efficient, limited or No Innovation, Over-Specialization, Tariffs meant to protect commodity industry ends up hurting manufacturing industries, Wage Inequality and No Competition. Encourages Toxic Rent-Seeking behavior in industries (Lobbying) Examples: US import tariffs on Corn from Brazil to protect US corn industry, resulting in Higher prices for consumers,US import tariffs on steel to protect their steel industry. However, this results in higher steel prices and ends up damaging their own Car industry instead Rent Seeking (Lobbyist), Automotive industry in SG - higher COE for car owning in Singapore.

Protectionist Trade Policies Impacts on Countries skill and knowledges:

Knowledge not spared across borders, not attract talented people, Keeping up with technology and industry out there, People may migrate to countries with free trade, Factor of proportionality, Countries may lose connection to latest technological progress. Examples: China cheap labour vs US Skilled labour, Labor shortages in certain industries, Sourcing of IT jobs US/India, Some countries do not have certain skills and need foreign help(e.g., Medical Insurance in India).

Protectionist Trade Policies Impacts on International relation:

Deters Foreign investments, Loss of people to other countries, Retaliation in the form of Currency and Trade war such as Devaluing their own currency to make their exports more appealing. International investors may refrain from investing in those countries, People may migrate to countries with free trade, Increase tensions between countries, Extra cost on export

Examples : China US Trade war, China Devalue currency (Currency war), OPEC (Manipulate oil prices > Eliminate, small oil producers > Less innovation/Higher prices/Lower quality.

US imposes tariffs > China imposes tariffs back on US

US imposes tariffs > China devalues currency to make their exports more appealing

Protectionist Trade Policies Impacts on Social, Technology & Environment:

Limited technology and products, Environmental issues need to be tackled globally

(Bystander effect), Less freedom for people to move between borders. Larger poverty gap among population , This is as the products hit by Tariffs are a larger part of poor people's incomes. Factor of proportionality (eg. Countries with skilled labour to do low skilled work)

Widening poverty gap among population (This is as products with tariffs often form a higher percentage of poor people's incomes)