ABSTRACT
Protectionist decisions are the outcome of a political process that establishes legislated restrictions on international trade in particular goods, or specifies circumstances more broadly warranting trade intervention (for example, dumping or other trading practices designated as “unfair”). The formulation of the latter broad general rules within the context of GATT adherence is discussed in Section 10. We consider now trade policy directed at protecting a particular domestic import-competing industry and ask how policy-makers might respond in the formulation of trade policy to the conflict of interest between the individuals who gain and lose as the consequence of protection for the industry.
