Anti-dumping legislation Supporters of anti-dumping laws argue that they prevent “dumping” of cheaper fn goods that would cau local firms to clo down. However, in practice, anti-dumping laws are usually ud to impo trade tariffs on fn exporters.
Direct subsidies: Gover subsidies (in the form of lump-sum payments or cheap loans) are sometimes given to local firms that ot pete well against fn imports. The subsidies are purported to “protect” local jobs, and to help local firms adjust to the world markets.
Export subsidies: Export subsidies are often ud by govers to increa exports. Export subsidies are the opposite of export tariffs; exporters are paid a pertage of the value of their exports. Export subsidies ihe amount of trade, and in a try with floating exge rates, have effects similar to import subsidies.
Exge rate manipulation: A gover may intervene in the fn exge market to lower the value of its currency by lling its curren the fn exge market. Doing so will rai the cost of imports and lower the cost of exports, leading to an improvement in its trade balance. However, such a policy is only effective in the short run, as it will most likely lead to inflation in the try, which will in turn rai the cost of exports, and reduce the relative priports.
Iional patent systems: There is an argument for viewing national patent systems as a cloak for proteist trade policies at a national level. Two strands of this argume: one when patents held by one try form part of a system of exploitable relative advantage in trade iations against another and a d where adhering to a worldwide system of patents fers “good citizenship” status despite de facto prote. Peter Drahos explains that “States realized that patent systems could be ud to cloak proteist strategies. There were also reputational advantages for states to be en to be stig to intellectual property systems. One could attend the various revisions of the Paris and Berne ventions, participate in the opolitan moral dialogue about the o protect the fruits of authorial labor and iive genius...knowing all the while that one’s domestitellectual property system was a handy proteist on.”