Choose one example of a real protectionist policy that has been Essay

Choose one example of a real protectionist policy that has been implemented by the government of some country and discuss the is - Essay Example Under non-automatic licensing requirements importers need to approach authority for the pre-registration and pre-approval of all imports into the country (USTR, 2012). Over time, rather than eliminating these measures, Argentina brought almost 600 items that include textiles, consumer electronics, bicycle parts, glass, metallurgical products and many more under the ambit of non-automatic import licensing procedures from February 1, 2012. The new requirement served two purposes: firstly, discouraging importers with lengthy and expensive customs procedures and secondly, strengthening domestic economy by supporting local producers. This has impacted many countries worldwide including European Union, the US, Japan, Mexico for they will not be able to export goods to Argentina. Arguments for Setting Such Policy It is important to note that Argentina, apart from being a WTO member, is also a member country of the Mercosur Customs Union and cannot arbitrarily change its tariffs. That is why it has resorted to a novel practice of imposing non-automatic import licensing system for all goods precisely to circumvent WTO and Mercosur free trade rules (Bendini, 2012). Mercopress (2012), a south Atlantic News Agency, reports that Argentina has imposed new restriction on imports in the garb of non-automatic import policy to safeguard domestic producers of the country. European Union Substantially Impacted The European Commission is of the view that licensing procedures adopted by Argentina are cumbersome, lengthy taking more than six months or longer (WTO prescribes 60 days) to complete. It also lacks transparency. Even goods that are not subjected to non-automatic import licensing procedure need to pass through a long and tiresome preapproval import procedure. In 2011, European Union export to Argentina was valued at EUR8.3 billion. Obviously, EU has been impacted significantly due to this protectionist policy of Argentina to curb imports (Bendini, 2012). According to Europe an trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht, the Argentine restrictions on imports have impacted a wide range of European exports of products such as mobile phone, laptops, cars and household appliances. De Gucht argued that as many as 19 WTO members have raised concerns against protectionist policies of Argentina and they would initiate a consultative process to solve the issue and if not resolved, then the EU would approach WTO to establish a panel of arbitrators to decide on the legality of Argentine action (Moss, 2012). Several Other Countries also Affected It is pertaining to note that Mexico, Japan, and the US have filed their separate complaints with the global trade arbiter regarding Argentina's new import policies (ICTSD (2012). In April 2012, at the Import Licensing Committee Meeting of WTO, several member countries that included Japan, Australia, the EU, Turkey, Thailand, Norway, the US, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Colombia, Peru, Chinese Taipei, Korea, Canada and Switzerland comp lained that their exports to Argentina had gone down due to Argentina's licensing requirements. They further complained that Argentinean government had put almost 600 products under a list that required individual approval for import (WTO, 2013). In 2012, similar