Current Accounts: The Hinrich Foundation Trade Podcast
The rise of industrial policies and their global impact
Published 10 December 2024
In this special edition of Current Accounts, the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast on global trade, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA sits down with Jia Hui Tee, Senior Trade Policy Analyst at the Hinrich Foundation, to discuss the rise of industrial policies and potential implications to trade and sustainability.
Tune in to this special episode hosted by the US Association of Foreign Press Correspondents:
In recent years, industrial policies have become a primary focus for governments worldwide. These policies, aimed at strengthening domestic industries, have significant implications for global trade and sustainability. As identified in the Hinrich-IMD Sustainable Trade Index 2024, global trade is experiencing a protectionist shift, with nations implementing measures to fortify their domestic sectors and secure supply chains for strategic goods. This year's STI indicates a notable increase in both tariff and non-tariff barriers, particularly by economies such as the United States, India, and China.
With the heightened emphasis on supply chain resilience and national security, countries are increasingly focused on ensuring the production of strategic goods and technologies to maintain their competitive advantage. Such actions may have profound effects on trade outcomes, as highly protectionist policies could potentially strain international trade relations. It is, therefore, crucial to strike a balance in the application of industrial policies to prevent adverse consequences such as resource misallocation, trade fragmentation, and environmental harm.
Tune into this special episode as Jia Hui Tee, Senior Trade Policy Analyst at the Hinrich Foundation, delves into the rise of industrial policies, how they impact trade and sustainability, and what governments can do to minimize their negative impacts on their trading partners.
Here is an excerpt from their conversation:
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Alan Herrera: |
Can you tell me just what was the most intriguing finding or most surprising finding within the Sustainable Trade Index this year? |
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Jia Hui Tee: |
So, this year we highlighted the rise of industrial policies. If you were to look at the list of indicators we have under the economic pillar, there is an indicator on tariff and non-tariff barriers. And this shows a significant increase between last year 2023 and the first half of this year, 2024, in the 30 economies that we track in the STI. The cumulative number of tariff barriers in force jumped from approximately 19,000 last year to about 21,500 this year. So that's a 10-plus increase, 10-plus percentage increase. But the increase for non-monetary barriers was even more significant. There was around 23 percent. So, we reached about 483,000 across the 30 countries that we tracked. And in the list of countries, we can see that countries like the US, India, China, they top the list with the highest number of tariffs, non-tariff barriers. But it is not so surprising given that they are the largest economies in the world. |
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Author
Jia Hui Tee
Jia Hui Tee is Senior Trade Policy Analyst in the Trade Policy program at the Hinrich Foundation specializing in research on international trade, digital trade and development economics.
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