Free Trade, Protectionism, and the Global Economy

Theodore Pelagidis

Published: June 2018

Free trade benefits consumers, but has harmed less-skilled workers in western countries fuelling polarization and the rise of nationalistic populism. Despite U.S. President Trump’s contradictory stance on tariffs, trade policy is closely connected with the level of the dollar as well. Policy actions which reduce the value of the dollar might fuel a currency war and a global trade backlash with serious negative consequences in living standards. A Court of International Trade for dissolving disputes among countries could help avert race-to-the-bottom tariff war or even prevent a currency war?