Introduction

Commerce, which outfit naturally be, among nations, as among individuals, a bond of union and friendship, has become a most fertile source of discord and animosity. Trade policy conflict among nations in the 1990s is not a relic of a waning era of economic nationalism, but a development which will actually grow in intensity as contact between national economies increases in scope and depth. A common perspective, often the favorite of economists and political scientists alike, is that most trade conflicts can be explained as rearguard actions mounted by the forces of “parochial protectionism,” a waning force in an increasingly interdependent world. A substantial portion of this work is devoted to an examination of how broad national policies and strategies emerge from the push and pull of competing bureaucracies and interest groups in the countries studied. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.