Retailers "Scream" Discrimination

This little story from 2002 illustrates the harms of trade restrictions:

For years, retailers from Wal-Mart and Target to tiny fancy-goods outlets have counted on low-cost imports from China to scare up sales at Halloween. A cheap polyester ghoul robe, along with a "Scream" mask retails for less than $20.  Classed as "flimsy festive articles," party-goods suppliers imported them duty free -- until U.S. Halloween giant, Rubie's Costume Company, got them reclassified as "fancy dress apparel."

What Does the WTO do?

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations.  At the core of the WTO are agreements, negotiated and signed by most of the world's trading nations.  These documents provide legal ground rules for international commerce.  Their goal is to help the producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct business in the global marketplace.

The WTO supplanted the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in early 1995.  The WTO has three main purposes:

U.S. Leadership Is Essential

This is a preview of my new book, Global Business: Positioning Ventures Ahead to appear with Taylor and Francis in June of 2010. I will be posting little snippets from the book every once in a while. I encourage you to read, comment, share, and your thoughts to the comment section. And look for the book in June.
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As we write this, governments worldwide are working to counteract the 2009 economic crisis by developing stimulus plans. The efforts of any one nation will have an impact globally because national economies are intertwined, but economic activity is highly concentrated among a few players – the U.S., European Union, Japan, China and Canada – who account for more than 75 percent of the world’s economy. That clout makes it critical for U.S. companies to become more involved in international marketing, whether it is export-import trade, licensing, joint ventures, wholly-owned subsidiaries, turnkey operations, or management contracts.

Please Comment:  Do you think the protectionist measures that are being enacted as a part of the stimulus plans will help or hurt domestic economic recovery?  What is the best way for governments to react to the recession?  Do you think that a global outlook is key to recovery?