The evolution of trade barriers in the 21st century

James Lake

Chapter 38 in Elgar Encyclopedia of International Trade, 2026, pp 193-202 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The escalation of the trade war between the US and the rest of the world in 2025 may seem quite surprising to a distant observer. However, the seeds were sown before President Trump took office. After a golden age of liberalization stretching through the 2000s, liberalization slowed to a snail's pace in the 2010s. The 2010s also saw protectionism gain steam, via anti-dumping duties and especially non-tariff measures, while academic studies began documenting empirically large negative consequences of trade liberalization for certain workers. The move toward protectionism is unlikely to fade anytime soon given the importance of global supply chains for moving inputs such as semiconductors and critical minerals downstream for the production of increasingly important goods related to national security like advanced computing, artificial intelligence, telecommunications, and renewable energy.

Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035327492
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035327508.00043 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:23076_39

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().