Speech focus

Task 1. Look up the definitions of the following words in a monolingual dictionary and be ready to give examples. 1) Pair-work: one student gives definitions for the other to guess the words; 2) Group-work: one student provides an example to illustrate the concept for the whole group to guess.

anti-dumping policies boycott embargo

quota export subsidy tariff

trade sanction tariff bindings voluntary export restraint

subsidy

Task 2. Reconstruct a small lecture “Erecting Barriers to Trade” using the notes below and supplying examples of your own. Pay special attention to linking words and proper sequencing.

Divide into two teams and provide arguments in favor or against tariffs/quotas and be ready to challenge your opponents.

1. There is general agreement among economists that trade creates wealth.

• Restricting trade thus reduces the growth of wealth.

• Trade barriers take many forms.

• The most common are tariffs and quotas. Both limit competition and trade and therefore reduce overall wealth.

2. A tariff is an import tax.

• A tariff generates government revenue.

• Its more important effect is to raise the price of the imported product.

• Its purpose is to "protect" the domestic product from competition by insuring that foreign products are the higher-priced, and therefore less desirable, alternative.

3. A quota is a limitation on the quantity of a product that may be imported.

• Its effect is indirect.

• A quota is similar to a tariff in that it raises the price of the imported product.

Restricting the supply puts upward pressure on the price of the import, making the domestic product the lower-priced alternative.

• Quotas do not generate government revenue.

Task 3. Watch video “International Business: Barriers to International Trade” and make appropriate notes to explain different types of trade barriers. What examples were given to illustrate the points?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=picGGrWX-qQ

Task 4.

Explain and develop the following statements and give examples to prove the point.

1. Tariffs and quotas “protect" domestic industries.

2. Like trade among individuals within one country, international trade promotes specialization and division of labor and increases output and consumption.

3. As a result of growing international economic interdependence, economic conditions and policies in one nation increasingly affect economic conditions and policies in other nations.

4. Individuals and nations have a comparative advantage in the production of goods or services if they can produce a product at a lower opportunity cost than other individuals or nations. Comparative advantages change over time because of changes in factor endowments, resource prices, and events that occur in other nations.

5. Costs of government policies sometimes exceed benefits.

6. Although barriers to international trade usually impose more costs than benefits, they are often advocated by people and groups who expect to gain substantially from them.

Task 5. Read two introductions, brainstorm the arguments (both economic and political) for free trade and for protectionism. After additional home reading and analysis, present your case with arguments and examples in class in debate form (university debate model).

• Few countries have anything approaching completely free trade. The city of Hong Kong, which is legally part of China but maintains a separate economic policy, may be the only modern economy with no tariffs or import quotas. Nonetheless, since the time of Adam Smith, economists have advocated free trade as an ideal toward which trade policy should strive. The reasons for this advocacy are not quite as simple as the idea itself.

• In economics, protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states (countries) through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow (according to proponents) fair competition between imports and goods and services produced domestically. According to its proponents, protectionist policies protect the businesses and workers within a country by restricting or regulating trade with foreign nations. In recent years, protectionism has become closely aligned with the anti-globalization and anti-immigration movements.

Task 6. Study the site https://www.wto.org/ and get ready to explain and illustrate the main principles of the WTO trading system («Understanding WTO” brochure is available for download). While some students present their summaries, others draw a mind-map.

Task 7. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of joining WTO for a country.

• Watch Video [WTO: Why is it bad for you?] and list all the arguments given against WTO. Which do you agree with?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcX2UlJ1yR4

• Study the site of WTO [https://www.wto.org/]. What advantages do they outline?

• What are the necessary steps to accede to WTO?

• Could give examples of countries that have benefited or not from joining WTO? Do they stand to gain or to lose? The list of WTO member-countries in available on the site.

CASE FOCUS

Hold a round-table discussion on the role of trade sanctions in international politics.

• Are trade sanctions an effective way to solve political problems? What are benefits and shortcomings? How can economic sanctions be classified?

• What is the history of economic sanctions? When did they originate? What were their objectives? Give examples to prove your point (from 1970 to 1998 there were 117 cases of economic sanctions).

• Study the current situation with trade sanctions. What are sanctions against Russia? What are the Russian counter-actions? Comment on the situation.

• Consult the site «Центр экспертизы по вопросам ВТО». Россия и ВТО

http://www.wto.ru/category/%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%B8-%D0%B2%D1%82%D0%BE/%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%82%D1%83%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B5-%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%8B/

PROJECT FOCUS

Choose a country and make an analysis of its trade policy to characterize its adherence to free trade principles, the instruments it uses to protect its production/trade and sectors which get protected, its cooperation and participation in multilateral agreements and international organizations.

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