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=Cooperation and Trade Barriers=

Trade Barriers

 * Government actions that are designed to protect domestic industries and jobs from foreign competition
 * Major types: tariffs, import quotas and voluntary restrictions, and embargos

Tariffs

 * Any tax on imports is a tariff
 * Revenue Tariffs: a tax or customs duty that a nation's government places on imports in order to raise money
 * Protective Tariffs: a tax or customs duty that a nation's government places on certain imports to restrict their sale
 * Protective tarrifs are designed to favor domestic industries over foreign competitors
 * Increasing the prices of imported goods, protective tarrifs tend to reduce the quantity of foreign goods demanded

**Import Quotas and Voluntary Restrictions**

 * These forms of regulation are intended to help domestic businesses sell their products by limiting the quantity of a specific product that can be imported into a country
 * Import Quota: a law limiting the amount of a foreign-produced good that may be imported into a nation during a specified period of time
 * Voluntary Trade Restriction: an agreement-not requiring congressional legislation-between two or more nations to limit or control trade by restricting shipments of certain products to a particular country
 * Embargoes: a government order that forbids importing or exporting goods with a specified nation

**Free Trade Versus Protectionism**

 * The different views supporters have either for or against free trade
 * Free Trade: trade among nations that is not restrained by protective tarrifs or other government restrictions
 * Protectionism: the use of trade barriers to protect a nation's industries against foreign competition
 * The argugments used by both protectionists and supporters of free trade are based on six key ideas-
 * Infant Industries
 * Job Protection
 * Standard of Living
 * Specialization
 * National Security
 * Fairness

International Cooperation

 * To reap the economic and political benefits of global trade, many nations have engaged in international cooperations
 * Reciprocal Trade Agreements
 * Regional Trade Organizations
 * International Trade Agreements
 * Another significant development in the expansion of international trade was the negotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
 * Signed by the United States, Mexico, and Canada in 1992, this agreement was designed to reduce-and eventually eliminate-tarrifs on all goods and services coming into and out of these countries