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It's technically true that Trump's 'retaliatory' tariffs aren't actually retaliatory, as most countries don't have tariffs on vast majority of US imports. However, there are other actual, tangible non-tariff trade barriers countries use, it's not just illusory 'Critical Trade Theory'.
Tariffs are considered archaic and stupid in our global WTO liberal free trade regime. But occasionally (or sometimes more than occasionally) states want to engage in protectionism. The way they get around this is by implementing non-tariffs trade barriers that have plausible deniability with other justifications. This is sometimes described as neo-mercantilism in academic literature. The European Union loves this, from geographical indicators to carbon border adjustment mechanism and other regulatory measures - all implemented for other goods, that just so happen to also protect their domestic industries as well (unintended side effect, of course). Though, the EU will sometimes resort to tariffs on short notice as well, such as to prevent Chinese state subsidised EVs flooding European markets - but that's justified as an anti-dumping measure - purely self defence.
And China bans imports of goods, out of deep concern for the safety of their citizens. They blocked imports of Australian rock lobster because of high levels of cadmium (no evidence ever confirmed) and periodic bans of imports of either Canadian or Australian canola over concerns of blackleg fungus contamination. Of course, China too used extortionate tariffs on Australian barley to protect themselves from Australian 'dumping' cheap barley in China. Damn, us pesky Australians! First we try to poison the Chinese with toxic lobster, then we try to destroy the domestic Chinese barley market! In a weird coincidence, concerns about cadmium disappeared the same time relations normalised with China post-COVID! What luck! And don't forget the China rare earths export ban and dispute in 2010-12, which was for the good of reducing pollution and conserving the resource. The fact it happened after a major maritime and diplomatic dispute with Japan is a coincidence, I'm sure.
For better or worse, Trump's approach is about as unsophisticated as you can get, just slapping tariffs on just about everyone and everything. See, in the enlightened WTO free trade order, you can't just put tariffs on things, that would break WTO rules and free trade principles! No, instead what you're meant to do is provide some really-justified-for-other-reasons non-tariff measure to block export or imports, and then spend the next 5 years rules-lawyering how it doesn't violate the 'international rule based order' after which time the outcome of the dispute doesn't even matter, if someone even bothers to challenge it, that is.
I don't really see how these can be perceived as equivalent or even comparable to tariff barriers. Tariffs explicitly privilege domestic goods, something like CBAM is precisely designed to ensure that on something like carbon emissions imported and domestic production is on exactly the same footing. Trying to explain origin rules or CBAM as neo-mercantilism is wild over-explanation - the former, for instance, really is just environmental policy, since if you want a carbon tax you really do need something like CBAM otherwise your emissions just get exported.
It's trivial (conceptually, if not practically) to structure your non-tariff trade barriers, such as the CBAM, to favour domestic producers over foreign imports - e.g. calculating emissions of imports in a unfavourable way. Indeed, the CBAM has been accused of doing just that. It also inherently favours domestic European goods due to the lower transport emissions and the fact the Europeans are trying to develop green industries. The Europeans of course argue this is simply a green policy, and this is merely leveling the playing field in the name of the environment. Maybe this true - but the fact it favours domestic industry must surely be a nice bonus.
This I agree would be a non-tariff barrier to the extent that it happens.
Well this I think is silly. On this basis any taxation which is not very broad-based is a non-tariff barrier. If the British raise their alcohol duty on spirits faster than beer is this discriminating against American whisky-makers and French cognac producers in favour of domestic breweries, assuming Britain is more competitive in beer production than spirits?
Taxation which hit imports much harder than domestic products is indeed a non-tariff barrier. For example, if a country which does not have a domestic car industry puts a VAT specifically on cars, it is effectively a tariff.
Or to name another famous European case, if a union of countries that do not have a domestic tech industry demands data to be handled in specific ways or face an absurdly huge fine (or 5% of global revenue, whichever is higher).
The Europeans naturally claim it's about data privacy, but the fact of the matter is that unless you do business everywhere the European way, you face the massive tax. Naturally, European startup companies will have no problem doing things the European way, and as such the GDPR is effectively a tariff.
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But the US also engages in obvious neomercantilism, and engaged before Trump, too. I mean, what the heck else was the whole TikTok ban affair? This would be a better argument if there was a lack of parity in such measures, but I don't see such a lack of parity existing.
I have assumed the TikTok ban was at least in part retaliation for China's bans of Western tech companies, delayed until they had one worth banning. Which still fits the definition but feels different as a policy choice because we can say we didn't start it
The tiktok ban talk also increased in earnest after notable Democratic-aligned media reported it was favoring Trump during the 2024 elections. Particularly after Trump's formal emergence on the platform surpassed the Biden campaign's results.
Now, correlation does not imply causation...
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Yes, that's my point. That there's a right way to do not-protectionism in the liberal trade rules based order. Trump's doing in protectionism with his tariffs the wrong way (to a extreme degree, I might add).
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The geographical indicator row is not primarily a protectionist one - the EU is demanding that other countries protect geographical names so that (for example) American winemakers can't call their Champagne-style sparkling wines "Champagne" in the US domestic market. The GI row is analogous to IP rows which end up as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations.
This sounds exactly backwards to me, though maybe I missed something. As far as I know the EU doesn't give a flying fuck what you call sparkling wine in the US, it just won't let you sell it as "champagne" in Europe. Though you're right it's not particularly protectionist, or if it is, it's regional protectionism, because European sparkling-wine producers are subject to the same rules (you can't make sparkling wine in Spain, or even other regions of France, and call it "champagne").
You are correct, it's protecting EU domestic markets from foreign 'similar' products from using the geographical indicators (although the EU has occasionally managed to extend that protection to other markets). So Australian sparkling white wine can't use the name 'champagne' in European markets. This was a major sticking point during fairly recent Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations (Australia is a major agricultural exporter), particularly around products like feta, parmesan, prosecco, and was instrumental in the collapse of negotiations along with other agriculture protectionist policies. Now, one might think it's fair for the Europeans to do this to protect their cultural culinary heritage - I wouldn't disagree. But it does still provide a non-tariff trade barrier (i.e. is a protectionist policy) against potentially more competitive imports.
Even if domestic producers are subject to the same requirements? It's not as if a wine-producer from Ireland, or even Normandy, could make a sparkling wine and call it champagne.
Sure, it blocks intra-EU competition, but the EU is effectively acting as a cabal here - Franch gets champagne, Greece gets feta, Italy gets prosecco and so on. They agree to not interfere with each other in exchange dor working together to impose the restrictions on the rest of the world.
I find it difficult to see how this is different to literally any regulation though. It's not as if any product is prevented from entering the EU under these rules, it's just a question of how it's marketed. It's as much consumer protection as producer protection - when someone sees 'champagne' they expect it be from Champagne (and not just because of expectations created by the regulations). After all the EU does enforce non-EU names - Celyon tea, Sussex wine, Mongolian Cashmere etc. etc.
This implies that the answer would be for everyone else to prohibit any product (imported or otherwise) to display a restriction geographic name.
After all, it's just a question of how it's marketed. Prohibiting French wine-makers from labeling it Champagne isn't a trade barrier?
After a while, those names will just be gone -- who in the US would know what Parmesan is if you can't actually name anything in the store it.
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The question is what do those names actually mean to consumers. At least here in Australia, names like 'feta' are fully genericised - they don't have to come from a particular region in Greece. This is true for a lot of names, though the EU has taken great pains to reverse this.
When a consumer goes to buy feta, what exactly are they looking for? If two products are virtually identicial, taste the same, same texture, but one happens to be made in Australia and one in Greece, do most consumers actually care? Do they just want a lower price (I'm sure some foodies will claim there are subtle but irreducible differences).
At what point does a name become genericised to the point of referring to a type of product, rather that than referring to the geographical origin of a product? Danish pastries certainly aren't just made in Denmark.
It is a legitimate criticism to say that a consumer might be looking for feta and not care if it's from either Australia or Greece, but EU geographical indicators hide Australia 'feta' from consumers as a potential option, and this constitutes protectionism.
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But France can, and only France can, and thus it remains a form of European protectionism even if it privileges part of the EU over others.
'Everyone is under the same restriction that they can only use [brand recognition name] if you produce from my market' is simultaneously a 'same' requirement and not-same impact. Which is why 'same' requirements for all is a common form of contract corruption- you write requirements into a contract that you know only certain favored applicants will be able to reasonably meet, and thus you have the 'same requirements for everyone' and can dismiss accusations of systemic bias.
Not France, only Champagne can.
I dunno, think what you want about the regulation, I heard a few cases of it backfiring against those it was supposedly meant to protect, but I don't see it as fundamentally different from expecting other countries to respect trademark regulations. Or is it protectionism that China can't flood the US market with "Apple" products that were produced by companies who weren't authorized by Apple to do so?
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Ok but the arrangement applies to non-EU foods too. Looking at the UK protected name list (which is largely carried over from the EU regs, which I can't find in such an easily accessible form), there are 771 protected names for American products and regions (almost exactly the same as the number of French protected names by the way) - why would anyone do this if it were pure protection? It's more a question of false advertising. If you call your whisky a bourbon or your sparkling wine a champagne it comes with obvious expectations. After all there is no barrier to the importation of the product, it's just a question of what you sell it as when it's here. Nobody is preventing anyone from selling American sparkling wine.
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I mean, I just feel like... every regulation, including fraud and food safety, is a protectionist policy against potentially more competitive imports, isn't it? If you have too much arsenic in the imported orange juice or whatever, then if the customer would usually not notice this immediately and correct course, then the restriction on selling the orange juice is, from a pure market perspective, a trade barrier against competition. I think at some line, and arguably "champagne from Australia" is across that line, you have to say "no, fraud is not legitimate competition actually."
To a degree, yes, you're correct, it's just then which regulations or protections are generally considered legitimate, and don't hinder the 'spirit' of free trade. Although with health and safety regulation specifically is that they're competing on an even playing field in that specific market with domestic goods - this isn't the case with all (most) non-tariff trade barriers, which often put additional burdens on imported goods that domestic goods don't have to meet, or are structured in such a way to make it far easier for domestic goods to meet the requirements.
That's a good metric!
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