Rich nations achieved growth through protectionism they now deny the South

Evidence

As economist Ha-Joon Chang has shown, in past centuries developed countries built their industrial capacity through forms of protectionism: shutting their doors to international competition and lavishly subsidizing their national producers to invest in capital-intensive production. Ironically, the decision-making elite largely based in the US and in Europe now prevent countries of the Global South from doing the same: they impose the “free” trade and the “free” markets. Without the ability to compete with international producers, Ghana has no option but to import the majority of technology and manufactured goods, from refrigerators to cars. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 296

Categorization

• SHARE: The ‘kicking away the ladder’ Ha-Joon Chang point - send to anyone teaching trade policy or development.
• SEED: Angle for an article: ‘The protectionist scaffold behind free-trade sermons’ - how rich nations institutionalize hypocrisy.
• XREF: connects to: Protectionism trapped Southern peasants in a dual loss of export markets and cheap goods — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 41; The wealthy nations could not have industrialized under the policies they impose on Africa — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 36; Preferential trade deals for the Global South replaced universal free trade — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists: The End of Empire and the…, 714

Broader Connections

• The wealthy nations could not have industrialized under the policies they impose on Africa #exemplifies (0.90) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 36
• Preferential trade deals for the Global South replaced universal free trade #qualifies (0.80) — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists, 714
• Protectionism trapped Southern peasants in a dual loss of export markets and cheap goods #complicates (0.75) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 41