Mercantilism is the earliest thought of trade protectionism and the product of fierce international trade competition in the later period of commercial revolution. The early mercantilist policy in Europe mainly prohibited the export of domestic gold and silver and encouraged the import of foreign gold and silver; In the later period, influenced by the theory of comparative advantage, mercantilism no longer pursued the absolute inflow of gold and silver, but strived for a surplus position in international trade.
Friedrich F. Lister (1789-1846), a German, was the first economist who systematically put forward the theory of trade protectionism. Liszt lived in exile all his life. He was persecuted for organizing the German Federation of Industry and Commerce, and was once sentenced to prison for proposing radical democratic reforms. After moving to America, he went bankrupt because the mine closed. He refused the invitation of the Russian government to hire him to an important position, and missed the opportunity to be the editor-in-chief of Rheinische Zeitung for health reasons. Unable to support his wife and children, Liszt shot himself at the age of 57.
In order to pursue the unification and strength of German economy, Liszt repeatedly attacked the liberalism of classical economics, strongly opposed the free trade policy and advocated the implementation of protective tariff system. According to the degree of national economic development, he divided the economic development into five stages, namely, primitive uncivilized period, animal husbandry period, agricultural period, agro-industrial period and agro-industrial business period. Countries in the agricultural stage should implement a free trade policy, which is conducive to the free export of agricultural products and the free import of foreign industrial products, so as to promote the development of their own agriculture and cultivate the foundation of industrialization. Countries in the stage of agro-industry have developed their own industries, but they have not yet developed to the point where they can compete with foreign products. Therefore, it is necessary to implement a protective tariff system to protect them from foreign products. However, in countries in the agricultural, industrial and commercial stages, because domestic industrial products have international competitiveness, the competitive threat of foreign products no longer exists, so we should implement a free trade policy to enjoy the maximum benefits of free trade and stimulate the further development of domestic industries.
Obviously, whether it is mercantilism's comprehensive trade protection thought, Liszt's staged protectionism thought, or the later thought of protecting the local "naive" 7 industries, it will trigger a trade war. Suppose the world consists of A and B: (1)A and B both believe in mercantilism, and both hope to get gold and silver inflow or trade surplus from each other. How can there be international trade under such circumstances? (2) Country A is in the stage of agro-industry and implements trade protectionism; Country B is in the stage of agriculture, industry and commerce and implements free trade. In this case, there can be no international trade. (3) Country A wants to export cloth, while Country B thinks that cloth is its "naive" industry and needs protection, so there will be no international trade.
There is no doubt that if trade protectionism leads to the disappearance of international trade, it will not benefit everyone. Therefore, all countries are seeking a balance between free trade and trade protectionism: on the one hand, they hold high the banner of free trade, on the other hand, they secretly implement protectionist policies; On the one hand, we hope that our dominant industries will always maintain their dominant position and suppress the growth of similar industries in other countries, on the other hand, we will protect our inferior industries through various policies; On the one hand, when it is in a trade disadvantage position, it does not hesitate to adopt comprehensive trade protectionism; On the other hand, when it is in a dominant position in trade, it forces other countries to "open their doors" by various means .............................................................................................................................................
Those guys who praise free trade are pioneers of trade protectionism.
Britain is one of the first countries to implement trade protectionism. /kloc-In the second half of the 6th century, Britain began to ban the import of metal products, leather products and many other industrial products. 1688 after the "glorious revolution", Britain completely stopped importing French and Dutch woolen goods. /kloc-In 0/700, the British Parliament banned the import of cotton goods from India, Iran and China. Gundam 18 12 Britain also imposes an import tariff of up to 7 1.7% on printed cotton cloth imported from India. By 1820, Britain's industrial output has accounted for half of the world's total industrial output, establishing a competitive advantage in the world-this has enabled Britain to gradually cancel its own tariffs and implement a free trade policy in order to require other countries to open their markets.
France is also one of the "elders" who implement the policy of trade protectionism. /kloc-since the 0 th and 7 th centuries, France has implemented a mercantilist trade protection policy, encouraging exports and restricting imports. Until the Napoleonic government after the "Great Revolution" at the end of 18, the Bourbon Dynasty and the "July Dynasty" after 18 15, the principle of foreign trade policy was to protect tariffs. This policy persisted until the middle of19th century, which gradually made French manufacturing industry more competitive and once became a rich country in the world after Britain.
The United States is the first post-industrialized country to implement a trade protectionist policy. Shortly after the independence of the United States, 1789 imposed tariffs on imported goods. 18 16, the United States passed the first clear protective tariff bill, taxing imported cotton, wool products and some iron products by 30% ~ 40%. From 65438 to the early 1980s, American industrial production jumped to the top in the world, and by 19 13, American industrial production had accounted for 36% of the total industrial production in the world. In the process of such high-speed industrial development, the United States has been implementing high protective tariffs. In particular, the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 raised the overall tariff rate of the United States from 38% to 49.5% until the First World War. After the Great Depression in 1930s, the United States abandoned the protective tariff policy and gradually turned to free trade. Of course, after the victory of the Spanish-American War, the United States began to use the global market, enjoy the benefits of free trade, and accumulate huge wealth. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the United States was also one of the main representatives of "free trade" that forced China to open its doors. After the United States achieved the leading position in world production and trade in the 20th century and became the leader of free trade, domestic trade protectionism continued to rise. 2 1 century, in the face of commodity shocks from emerging market economies, especially when the domestic economy declined due to the "subprime mortgage crisis" that began in 2007, American trade protectionism was particularly obvious. After the 2008 general election, the new US administration is likely to introduce a series of protectionist measures against China.
Germany's trade policy once wavered between free trade policy and trade protection policy. The moderate protective tariffs adopted by the German Customs Union in the first half of the19th century are a compromise between free trade and trade protectionism: the import and export of primary products are basically exempt from tariffs, the import of finished products is subject to 10% tariff, and the import tax on luxury goods is 20% ~ 30%. Influenced by Britain's shift to free trade in the first half of the19th century, Germany devoted itself to the policy of free trade in the 1960s and early 1970s, and reduced and abolished tariffs on many agricultural products and industrial products. However, in 1879, Bismarck returned to the protectionist tariff policy, and re-levied and continuously raised import duties on many industrial products. The trade protection policy has greatly promoted the development of Germany's economy: since the establishment of the customs union, the industrialization process in Germany has obviously accelerated; However, after Germany turned to protective tariff policy in 1879, it quickly became the world's first industrial power. For example, German industry only occupied the fourth place in the world during 1870 ~ 1880, surpassed France to rise to the third place in the world during 1880 ~ 1890, and surpassed Britain to rise to the second place during 19 10.
Japan advocated "developing the country through reproduction" during the Meiji Restoration, and persisted in "establishing the country through industry" and "establishing the country through trade" after the First World War. However, Japan has always adhered to the idea of protectionism in its domestic market and achieved a trade surplus status in Asia, Europe and the United States. Although European and American goods once flooded into Japan after World War II, the Japanese quickly supported their domestic enterprises and established their dominant position in the market through non-tariff trade protection measures such as culture and health clauses.
It is worth studying that in the 1920s of 19, Britain turned to free trade policy, the United States began to implement protective tariff policies to support its manufacturing industry, and Germany began to implement protectionist policies under the customs union. By the 1960s of 19, Britain had implemented a free trade policy with import tariffs close to zero, but the United States kept raising protective tariffs after 1857, and Germany also kept raising tariff rates of various industrial products after 1879-these two countries rose to the first and second positions of global industrial output before World War I respectively.
It can be seen that the positive role of trade protectionism in the history of these countries is undeniable. Only after the Second World War, under the arrangement of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, countries were able to gradually reduce tariffs relatively fairly, and established a certain trade dispute settlement mechanism, making universal protectionism represented by high tariffs gradually become history.
Nowadays, the late-developing market economy countries are integrating into the global economy dominated by developed countries in Europe and America. While enjoying the benefits of free trade, these countries must not forget that those modern industrial and commercial powers, although advocates and practitioners of free trade, are pioneers of trade protectionism and are still vacillating on the route of free trade and protectionism. When listening to their demands and opening every door, we must be cautious, otherwise it will be like China's automobile industry-most automobile factories are controlled by foreign capital, thus suppressing local technology research and development capabilities and national brands, so that in the era when American automobile companies are almost on the verge of bankruptcy, China's automobile consumption price is still the highest in the world.
Derivative wealth effect of trade system and policy
After the general high tariff policy has become history, the trade system, trade rules and their derived pricing rights and trade benefit distribution rights have gradually become the focus of international trade issues.
In order to gain the dominance of the trade system and trade rules, leading countries such as the United States use economic assistance as a means to expand their overseas economic interests and promote the formation of trade systems and rules that are beneficial to their own economic interests. On 1947 after the end of World War II, American President Truman put forward the aid plan of "American Support for European Renaissance Plan", also known as Marshall Plan. Marshall Plan not only strongly supported the formation of the American-led Bretton Woods system represented by GATT, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, but also greatly promoted the capital export and commodity export of the United States to Western European countries, making Western Europe the largest export market of the United States after the Second World War. Of course, in return, the Marshall Plan provided a total of $654.38+0.7 billion in aid to Europe, which really supported the economic reconstruction and recovery of Western Europe after World War II.
Since then, the United States-led World Trade Organization (formerly GATT) has gradually become a club for the rich and attracted more and more new members to join. Every new member who is approved to join will have to pay certain commercial interests, and after arduous negotiations, they will be forced to accept various trade rules that are beneficial to developed countries.
When technology and intellectual property become the main sources of export income of developed countries, there are special technical and intellectual property clauses to protect the export commercial interests of these developed countries. When developing countries' textiles gain a competitive advantage, there are measures similar to the General Agreement on Trade in Textiles and Fibers to prevent and restrict the export of these countries' products. Especially on the premise that most commodities and resources can flow freely, the flow of population and labor in developing countries is strictly controlled by developed countries. Moreover, export commodities are accompanied by various detailed rules that are beneficial to countries with dominant trade rules, such as labor clauses, health and environmental protection clauses, etc.
Monopoly trade rules and pricing power are politically applied to the wealth distribution of big countries. When the developed countries suffered the oil crisis in the late 1970s, it was the time when the oil and natural gas of the former Soviet Union became the main source of foreign exchange earning through export. At this time, through political, economic and diplomatic efforts, the Reagan administration of the United States lured Saudi Arabia and other countries to exploit and sell a large amount of oil exceeding the quota of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, thus reducing the international crude oil price from 65438 to 0985, with a drop of 50%. This strong intervention in commodity prices is one of the important reasons for the disintegration of the former Soviet Union. Because low oil prices not only effectively eased the economic recession in the United States and Europe, but also led to a huge loss of wealth in the former Soviet Union, which quickly exhausted its foreign exchange resources. 2 1 century, with the rise of China, Indian and other energy-poor countries, international monopoly forces began to manipulate the prices of oil, copper and commodities. The developed countries such as the United States not only sat idly by, but also ignored the manipulation and speculation of these commodities by their investment banks and arbitrage funds. It was not until the oil price rose by 10 times to 140 dollars that developed countries discovered that not only China suffered a lot of wealth loss and imported inflation, but also the economies of other countries such as the United States were negatively affected. It was not until the G-8 summit in July 2008 that they began to intervene in oil prices, and the US Senate began to investigate oil price manipulation, thus gradually reducing the prices of oil and other commodities.
Under the superficial free trade thought and free trade system, the pricing power extended from resource monopoly, demand monopoly, technology monopoly, policy and administrative resources, economies of scale, precipitated capital and goodwill can legally become the source of excess profits. Therefore, the party with competitive advantage and pricing power is eager to promote the free trade policy of the commodity, while the party passively accepting the price relies on certain trade protection policies to reduce the loss of its own trade interests.
In practice, all definitions of dumping and anti-dumping, monopoly and anti-monopoly, subsidy and countervailing, infant industry and related disputes are the focus of the current international trading system. However, most trade disputes often cannot be effectively resolved, but instead turn into mutual retaliation between trading countries. Therefore, big countries often exert influence on the supply and demand of world commodities, thus protecting their own interests; Small countries are in a passive position as recipients of international prices. However, if we can't effectively use the existing trade rules, master the dominance of the trade system and rules, and protect the welfare of domestic manufacturers and residents by using endogenous trade conditions (prices), big countries will also suffer huge wealth losses in international trade. For example, in the world market at the beginning of 2 1 century, all the goods exported by China were reduced in price, while all the goods imported by China were increased in price. As a result, while the world enjoys the cheap goods provided by China, China's manufacturers, residents and government finances suffer huge wealth losses.
In short, due to the complexity of the distribution of trade benefits, expanding free trade may also be harmful to a country's economic development; On the contrary, although trade protection is designed for immature industries that are developing gradually, if it is not mastered well, it will often protect aging and backward industries. In addition, as a wealth factor such as capital, land, resources and labor, the trading scope. With the continuous expansion and accelerated flow, the price formation mechanism of finished products interacts with it, and the trade process is more integrated with transnational investment and international finance, so the relationship between supply and demand and price formation becomes more complicated. The competition among countries for the dominance of the international trading system and trade rules has further extended to the financial field.