Trade Policy in a world of protectionism and non-equivalent exchange

We were supposed to be long past the days of the 1930s and protectionism. The era of globalization meant the retreat of the state, the imperious imposition of the laws of the world economy on national economic plans – an economic bulldozer pushing away the nationalist and the petty, remaking the world in the image of Capital Unfettered. But the free trade enterprise is sick. A protectionist wind is blowing through the world system. This chapter suggests that these are false choices – protectionism or globalization. We need to revisit two partially forgotten notions in our reframing of trade and investment policy for the 21st century – non-equivalent exchange and John Maynard Keynes’ argument for what he called an International Clearing Union.