Public responses to foreign protectionism: Evidence from the US-China trade war

David Steinberg and Yeling Tan ()
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David Steinberg: Johns Hopkins University
Yeling Tan: Peterson Institute for International Economics

No WP22-10, Working Paper Series from Peterson Institute for International Economics

Abstract: America's recent turn toward protectionism has raised concerns about the future viability of the liberal international trading system. This study examines how and why public attitudes toward international trade change when one's country is targeted by protectionist measures from abroad. To address this question, the authors fielded three original survey experiments in the country most affected by US protectionism: China. First, they find consistent evidence that US protectionism reduces Chinese citizens' support for trade. This finding is replicated in parallel experiments on technology cooperation, and further validated outside of the China context with a survey experiment in Argentina. Second, they show that responses to US protectionism reflect both a "direct reciprocity" logic—citizens want to retaliate against the United States specifically—and a "generalized reciprocity" logic that reduces support for trade on a broader, systemic basis.

Keywords: International Trade; International Political Economy; China; Public Opinion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F13 F42 F50 F68 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-dem and nep-int
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