The effects of protectionism on foreign trade: The case of Turkey

Protectionism and free trade are two trade policies. Precise information about these two policies in international trade. In the 1980 period, free trade policy was implemented in business in the world for a long period of neoliberal policies. After the 2008 crisis, free trade was replaced by protectionism in the world economy. Turkey did not stay away from the changes in the world and followed the general climate in its foreign trade policy. In this study, the effects of protectionism on the Turkish economy were examined. For this purpose, the effects of the economic policies implemented by the Republic of Turkey from its establishment to the present on the foreign trade volume, the policies under the title of new protectionism applied in the post-2008 Crisis period and the efforts to liberalize trade were investigated. The relationship between trade volume ratio and tariff rates, trade liberalization index and dollar index in Turkey between 1983-2019 period was analyzed by ARDL bounds test. According to the results of the application, a cointegration relationship was determined between the series and it was determined that the series act together in the long run. These results are in line with theoretical expectations. There is an inverse relationship between protectionist policies and trade volume. A positive relationship was determined between trade liberalization and trade volume. A negative relationship was found between the global dollar index and the trade volume.