TY - JOUR
T1 - The national security argument for protection of domestic industries
AU - CHENG, Leonard K.
AU - WHITTEN, Gregory W.
AU - HUA, Jingbo
N1 - The authors would like to thank Professor K.C. Fung and an anonymous referee for their valuable comment and suggestions, and the Pan Sutong Shanghai-Hong Kong Economic Policy Research Institute, Lingnan University, for generous support.
PY - 2020/4
Y1 - 2020/4
N2 - Tracing the origin of the national security argument for protection of domestic industries to Adam Smith, Alexander Hamilton, and Friedrich List, we study its post-GATT applications with reference to Article XXI of the WTO and highlight some recent abuses. We compare the use of tariff, production/input subsidy, and government procurement as alternative instruments of protection from the perspective of economic efficiency and study the disapproval of inward FDI to gain insights into the underlying national security concerns. The case studies of a) the US tariffs on aluminum and steel, b) German disapproval of the acquisition of a technology firm Leifeld Metal Spinning by a Chinese firm, and c) US’ all out global effort to cripple China’s telecom equipment giant Huawei are presented for illustration.
AB - Tracing the origin of the national security argument for protection of domestic industries to Adam Smith, Alexander Hamilton, and Friedrich List, we study its post-GATT applications with reference to Article XXI of the WTO and highlight some recent abuses. We compare the use of tariff, production/input subsidy, and government procurement as alternative instruments of protection from the perspective of economic efficiency and study the disapproval of inward FDI to gain insights into the underlying national security concerns. The case studies of a) the US tariffs on aluminum and steel, b) German disapproval of the acquisition of a technology firm Leifeld Metal Spinning by a Chinese firm, and c) US’ all out global effort to cripple China’s telecom equipment giant Huawei are presented for illustration.
KW - National security concerns
KW - WTO’s Article XXI
KW - case studies
KW - instruments of protection
KW - protection under Trump
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85083906487&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14765284.2020.1732091
DO - 10.1080/14765284.2020.1732091
M3 - Journal Article (refereed)
SN - 1476-5284
VL - 17
SP - 365
EP - 388
JO - Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies
JF - Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies
IS - 4
ER -