U.S. Has Passed Far More Trade Restrictions Than Its Peers

A recent report by Euler Hermes shows just how far the number of U.S trade restrictions has surged past those of other advanced economies. Since 2008, the U.S. has passed almost 800 protectionist measures, compared to 357 passed in the UK and 390 passed in Germany. Other advanced economies, like Canada (199) and Australia (174) passed even less of these restrictions.

The Trump administration is in the process of negotiating a trade agreement with China to resolve at least some of the protectionist measures currently in place. The agreement has been described as “in phase one”.

The U.S.-China trade dispute has led to the U.S. average tariff on import goods to rise to around 8 percent, up from 3.5 percent in late 2017. Euler Hermes sees this as a result of economic policy being increasingly used as a tool to other political ends, a tactic seen in the U.S.-China trade war as well as the Japan-South Korea trade tensions.