Adjustment Assistance to Import Competition

Abstract

With the increased tempo of initiatives for renewed multilateral negotiations aimed at the further liberalisation of international trade and the simultaneous fear that the world economy is threatened by renewed protectionism, the use of adjustment assistance policies, governed if possible by an international code of behaviour, has been widely suggested. The proponents of such programmes argue that they would tend to weaken the opposition of interests which feel threatened by further removal of protection. Even in cases where there was no question of trade concessions causing loss of markets, and the threatened parties sought protection with the intention of remaining permanently in the industry, the existence of an adjustment programme would have advantages in widening the range of production activities open to an enterprise that feels itself in some danger in its traditional line of production. Such a programme would also, by providing a temporary form of assistance, prevent other forms of protection which could prove more difficult to remove in the long run.