Supply synonyms for the following phrases from the text

a)to deter imports

b)to repel imports

c) tooffset losses

d)todistort international trade

e) todrive a wedge between demand and supply

f)to equate supply and demand

g)toeliminate distortions in international trade.

Working in pairs, discuss the following issues.

§ Due to certain protectionist errors, many potential gains from trade pass unrealised.

§ Subsidies are a naked transfer from taxpayers to corporate mendicants and an indirect transfer to overseas consumers, who enjoy artificially depressed prices as a result of the handouts.

§ Tariffs and subsidies drive a wedge between demand and supply, imposing “deadweight” costs on an economy. Eliminating such distortions would allow prices to resume their proper job of equating supply and demand.

§ Agriculture carries the heaviest distortions in terms of subsidies.

§ The benefits of trade liberalisation are spread widely but thinly; the benefits of protectionism, on the other hand, fall heavily on small groups.

§ Free trade ensures that an economy makes best use of its resources, deploying labour to its best advantage.

§ Open markets can unleash the forces of accumulation and innovation, augmenting resources.

Assignment 5. You are participating in a briefing on foreign trade policies. Three experts are answering the questions from the audience.

Assignment 6. Debate the opposing economic issues. Break into 2 groups (one group is in favour of protectionism, the other one backs free trade). After a short brainstorming session, several members in each team are making their speeches on trade policies.

1.3. ANTI-DUMPING: A VILLAIN OR HERO

IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE?

Imposing higher prices on consumers by way of anti-dumping duties is inherently inefficient, even in a good cause.

Jim Murray

Anti-Dumping is by far the most prevalent instrument for imposing new import restrictions. In the 1980s anti-dumping was used almost exclusively by a handful of industrial countries. Since the WTO agreements went into effect in 1995 1,979 actions had been undertaken by 1999. The largest number of actions have been initiated by the European Union and the US; however the US and the EU also account for the largest share of world trade flows. Finger, Ng and Wangchuk (2001) show that if these numbers are normalized by the volume of imports, than also developing countries are very active in carrying out anti-dumping actions, with Argentina South Africa and Peru leading the group. On the other side large developing economies and transition countries (China, India, Korea, Russia and other CIS countries) are the most likely targets of antidumping actions, both measured by absolute numbers or with respect to their exports. Thus, antidumping is a measure which is of major importance and concern for developed, developing and transition countries alike.

(Source: Trade Policy and WTO Accession for Economic Development:

Application to Russia and the CIS byG. B. Navaretti, A. Salvi Del Pero)

Assignment 1. Fill in the blanks in the following text, providing the Russian for the expressions you fill in.

1. _______ refers to a legal system under which the government of a country investigates the dumping of imports and take corresponding antidumping measures.

2. Anti-dumping measures include a _______ imposed to neutralize the _______ of unfair pricing practices.

3. The measures of protection from _______ regulated by the WTO can be divided into two categories. The first one regards temporaryprovisions that can be used when a predefined set of circumstances legitimize temporary increases in import barriers. The second one includes permanentexceptions to the general obligations.

4. Temporary restrictions allowed by the WTO are _______,_______, and _______. They are tariffs to assist with balance of payments problems, tariffs to protect infant industries, or tariffs for emergency protection.

5. Countervailing duties and anti-dumping dutiesare special _______ allowed by the WTO under specific circumstances of unfair competition (export subsidies or dumping on the part of trading partners), conditional on a detailed investigation showing that the domestic industry is being hurt. These are _______ measures, in that they are just applied against one trading partner. Safeguard measuresare temporary trade restrictions protecting an industry from fair competition, beyond the protection afforded by tariffs negotiated as part of _______. They are non discriminatory measures as they are applied to all trade partners. The difference between anti-dumping duties and safeguard measures is that the former may only be _______ when foreign exporters are engaged in anti-competitive practices while the latter may be imposed on exporters that have a fair competitive advantage.

(Source: Trade Policy and WTO Accession for Economic Development:

Application to Russia and the CIS byG. B. Navaretti, A. Salvi Del Pero)