Another representative moment for the relation between the EEC and trade liberalization was in the 1980s, when two factors have contributed to increased tensions between the two trends: galloping development of Japan and the Newly Industrialized Countries and EEC’s enlargement towards the poorer Mediterranean countries. The former pushed the EEC to use the safeguards clause of GATT and, under the claim of the necessity to preserve its living standards, barred the entrance of imports from these countries. The latter led to increased agricultural and regional assistance as Greece, Portugal and Spain countries could not face world competition. To these factors added the EEC’s agre

Let us refer now to the another sector of globalization. Financial deregulation took place in Europe only with the Common European Market, in 1990, almost seven years later than the Japanese one, while the United States initiated the process in 1974. It is important to point out that capital mobility in the context of the European Monetary Snake greatly diminished the capacity of the state to pursue its own monetary policies.

New Protectionism(best characterized by non-tariff barriers) led to a notable feature of globalization, the development of multinational companies, especially through foreign direct investment, in countries not yet affected by voluntary export restraints and orderly market arrangements. Thus, with the establishment of the EEC and the erection of external tariffs, the United States have seized the opportunity of making massive direct investments in Western Europe. Therefore, New Protectionism did not have the expected beneficial effects for the EEC, as it could not protect itself from the American products(via the multinationals). European multinationals invested in NICs, but this affected negatively the European labour market: with the shortening of the product cycle- the manufacturing of goods largely took place in the NIC, while only the assembling is left to the advanced economy.

There is evidence that points, in this era of greater interdependence, to a growing autonomy of the EU. This would mean that it could afford to resist the temptations of protectionism, due to a great efficiency of its policies directed to its inner market.

New Protectionism led to another type of European encroachment: the reduction of costs for the MNCs involves the spread of technology and expertise to potentially foreign competitors. In order to counteract these threats, the common European policies restricted imports from Japan and the NICs, while trying to set up joint ventures with American and Japanese companies, in an attempt to catch-up technologically. Therefore, they forced the foreign investors to share technology in order to gain access to the closed European market.

To counteract this dumping trend, coordination is necessary at two levels: be

Some topics in this essay:
PROSPECTS FUTURE, Europe Protectionism, American Japanese, Common Market, Central European, Tokyo Round, Portugal Spain, WTO Round, Countries EEC’s, Eastern Europe, european market, non-tariff barriers, voluntary export restraints, anti-dumping measures, agricultural subsidies, european countries, portugal spain, central european, common agricultural, single currency, greece portugal spain, taxation labour markets, mediterranean countries,