Trade and Foreign Policy

International trade is becoming more important for both developed and developing countries. Maybe, I think like this because I will be part of it and to be honest I don’t want to be jobless after years of education. But, I will share not about my life but I will evaluate something and share my ideas that I’m really concerned about it, as I said international trade. I think you should be concerned about it too.

 

International trade is a part of capitalism. And it seems that countries foreign policies are evolving to be more affected of trade activities among the countries all over the world. It’s actually two sided, while foreign policy affects trade deals, countries manner to foreign investment or imported goods affects foreign policy of that country. Addition to that explanation is that we have been hearing about the relationship between USA and China, Russia alliance, which is another case that also be discussed whether if China and Russia allies or not, but it’s clear that for now Russia and China have a common opponent at the international sphere. Putin’s message to the US is necessary to understand how a Russian leader is, finally, ready to tell the US: do not judge us by your claimed standards, and do not try to tell us what to do (Kevin, 2021). It’s an expression of accumulated anger of excludent of Russia from western countries and confidence of being ally with the biggest opponent of US. This example shows us dynamics of foreign policy and effects on the international trade. There is always a polarisation to remain these rivalries to become more influential and developed in the international sphere, as we call it competition.

 

As we know capitalism is based on competition of institutions, countries, companies etc. But firstly let me explain you that what are these dynamics of foreign policy, effects on the international trade and how international trade is being affected by those attitudes. I want to continue with examples. In 1983, Reagan also slapped a 45% tariff on Japanese motorcycles in an effort to save one American company: Harley-Davidson. "The benefit Harley received from the special import duties, I would estimate as approximately zero. It didn't help them," says Irwin. "The Japanese evaded the tariff." (Gillespie, 2016). This example demonstrates something that I have been trying to explain. Reagan was a republican president and when he came to business US economy was in a kind of crisis which Reagan had “Economic Recovery” to solve the crisis, first after the “New Deal” of president Roosevelt (He was democrat). And his one of the first attempt to stop the crisis was tariffs to the imported goods that applied to Japanese motorcycles. US has seen lots of examples like that from republican presidents which Trump call it “America First” policy to increase productivity of US companies and goods to be able to compete with the international brands with applying tariffs on imported goods which can exceed the place of the domestic goods in markets. In June 1930, Smoot-Hawley raised already high U.S. tariffs on foreign agricultural imports. The purpose was to support U.S. farmers who had been ravaged by the Depression. Instead, it raised food prices. It also compelled other countries to retaliate with their own tariffs. That forced global trade down by 65% (Cheng, 2020). This is another example how the international trade regulations affect the whole world.

 

 

As the end of the writing, we should understand that international trade agreements and deals are really important to accomplish the purposes of individuals and society that is formed by individuals.

References

Cheng, M. (2020, 11 20). What the Smoot Hawley Act Can Teach Protectionists Today. the balance: https://www.thebalance.com/smoot-hawley-tariff-lessons-today-4136667

Gillespie, P. (2016, 07 27). Those Reagan tariffs Trump loves to talk about. CNN: https://money.cnn.com/2016/07/27/news/economy/donald-trump-ronald-reagan-trade-japan/index.html

Kevin, T. (2021, 03 25). Russia and China are sending Biden a message: don’t judge us or try to change us. Those days are over. The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/russia-and-china-are-sending-biden-a-message-dont-judge-us-or-try-to-change-us-those-days-are-over-157771

 12/04/2021