ABSTRACT

The demarcation lines between international economic and security concerns are becoming blurred. The slipperiness of the concept of economic security is compounded by attempts to extend it to global problems. This chapter looks at how' each of these distinct concerns—all making use of the vocabulary of security—enter the current policy debate and how-valid the concerns are. From a 'geo-economic' standpoint, the US external deficit originates in an uneven playing field for trade. A more serious concern is that governments will be tempted to use trade policy to try to reverse adverse tendencies in competitiveness. The more conventional treatment of economic security concerns the degree to which national security is threatened by dependence on external sources of technology, raw materials, food and fuel. One application of the security of supply argument became a cause celebre in General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).