Developing Countries, New Trade Barriers, and the Global Economic Crisis

This chapter identifies a number of stylized facts regarding the evolving pattern of import protection associated with the global economic crisis of 2008-2009, with a special focus on developing countries. While the major G-20 member economies of the international trading system largely refrained from using protectionist instruments that had been used during earlier eras of crisis - such as across-the-board increases in applied tariffs and the imposition of new quantitative restrictions - much of the new protectionism came in the form of potentially WTO-consistent use of temporary trade barriers such as antidumping, countervailing duties, and safeguards. Nevertheless, the incidence of new trade barriers that did take place during the crisis was developing economy-centric in nature: it was disproportionately imposed by developing economies on developing economy exporters with the potential to impact much South-South trade. Finally, the chapter explores policy implications for developing countries in the post-global economic crisis, rules-based trading system