NEO PROTECTIONIST ACTIVITIES IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE

The purpose of the work is consideration and analysis of the effect of neoprotectionist activities existing in the international trade on growth and/or decrease in the international trade within the framework of World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements; to what extent a particular non-tariff measure promotes or impedes international trade turnover. That is a very important and relevant issue for developing countries, including Georgia, the study of this issue should contribute to assessing risks and possibilities in commercial diplomacy. In the work, WTO's statistical data on tariff and non-tariff barriers is studied and its analytical review is presented. To what extent the trade liberalization measures taken within the framework of WTO contributed to increasing of neo-protectionism; whether they really promoted the expansion of international trade flows or not. The paper outlines the extent to which neo-protectionist measures would be important and useful for the development or promotion of local entrepreneurship; whether it is really better to apply them in comparison with tariff barriers. Non-tariff barriers are mainly applied by developed countries against developing ones, the reason for which is an aggravation of competition on the world market, and the country is striving for the protection of national producers' results from that. Oftentimes unilaterally introduced non-tariff regulation measures give rise to a whole chain of mutually restrictive actions. At the current stage, antidumping measures through increasing duties are the main legal import limitation instrument for WTO member countries. The number of antidumping investigations has been constantly increasing in the recent years. Transfer of non-tariff protectionism to the level of trade economic groupings appears as another trend of its development. Within the framework of numerous regional integration structures and inside bilateral trade agreements non tariff barriers are effectively applied both with respect to third countries and in member countries' mutual trade, and this takes place in conditions of significant liberalization of customs taxation. The conclusions made in the work deal with what should be taken into account by the countries in selecting a trade policy; how a concrete government should make a decision in the process of establishing of trade barriers and what measure it should opt for in a certain situation. It is a very important issue for the national governments of developing countries, especially from the viewpoint of protection of infant industries.