The new protectionist wave and it`s evaluation for Turkish foreign trade

ABSTRACT The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the reasons for new protectionist wave emerged since 1970's, it's differences from traditional protectionism and analyze the presence of non-tariff barriers in Turkey's foreign trade. The first part of the dissertation explains the historical developments of protectionism, the differences between the new and traditional protectionism and the factors that played an important role in the use of new protectionist tools. In the second part, the economic effects of non-tariff barriers, the non-tariff barriers related regulations within the GATT/WTO framework, and measurement methods were discussed. In the third part, the non-tariff barriers that affect Turkey's exports and that were used in Turkey's imports were analyzed using the inventory approach These non-tariff barriers in the OECD countries were also analyzed for comparison. According to the results of this study, 24% of Turkey's imports were affected by non-tariff barriers in 1997. When analyzed within the OECD countries, Turkey's imports that were affected by non-tariff barriers have been increasing. However, the presence of these barriers in other OECD countries are more than that of these barriers in Turkey. Among the OECD countries, Japan is the most protectionist, New Zealand and Iceland are the least. The most protected sectors with non-tariff barriers in the manufacturing sector in Turkey are manufacture of fabricated metal products, machinery and equipment, manufacture of non-metallic mineral products, manufacture of chemicals and of chemical, petroleum, coal, rubber and plastic products. Among the most applied non-tariff barriers are the core non-tariff barriers that consist of price controls, which are anti-damping duties and quantity restrictions, which are import licensing and authorization and import monitoring. Turkey is mostly affected by non-tariff barriers in it's exports to Japan. In 1997, 15.9% of Turkey's exports to the EU was affected by non-tariff barriers. However, these effects have been decreasing in years. The most affected sector by non-tariff barriers in Turkey's exports to the EU is the agricultural sector.