America’s protectionist policies are backfiring

THE United States has adopted increasingly protectionist policies over the past few years, raising tariffs, revising or withdrawing from free-trade agreements, and restricting trade with countries considered strategic threats. While these measures aim to exert pressure on perceived adversaries like China, there is growing evidence that economic sanctions are at best ineffective and, at worst, counterproductive.

To be sure, some sanctions can be successful, particularly when backed by broad international consensus. The multilateral sanctions imposed on South Africa in the 1980s are a prime example. Some exporters managed to evade the sanctions, which, however, still played a critical role in pressuring the country’s white minority to end apartheid. But when sanctions are imposed unilaterally or by a small group of countries, they tend to be much less effective in persuading their targets to change their behaviour.

To its great credit, the US emerged as a visionary global leader after World War II, shaping the postwar order by spearheading the creation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and its successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO), which together established the legal framework for international trade.