Free Trade, Protectionism and National Interests

This paper examines the ongoing debates between free trade and protectionism to derive policy implications applicable to the Korean economy. Despite strong acceptance of a strategic trade policy as an positive economics for trade protectionism, economic criticisms oppose the reliability of strategic trade policy as adequate policy tool. This paper surveys the Super 301 as an example of bilateral trade laws which possibly undermine multilateral negotiations of free trade with emphasis on Korean example. This paper provides a recent suggestion to achieve global free trade through a grand bargain.