The Pandemic and its Aftermath: The Role of Trade Policy

The COVID-19 crisis has intensified longstanding debates about the role of trade in times of acute global need. This blog post by Patrick Low, a member of TULIP’s advisory board, examines the tension between the instinct toward national self-reliance and the case for open trade as an essential tool for managing a global health crisis, with a particular focus on medical supplies, medicines, and agricultural and food products.

Drawing on data from the Global Trade Alert, the piece documents the wave of export restrictions imposed by countries in the early months of the pandemic — 161 measures on medical supplies and medicines across 83 countries — alongside a parallel movement toward import liberalisation by countries seeking to ensure access to essential goods. It argues that these two trends point to an obvious but underexploited bargain: exporters remove their restrictions while importers make their market-opening measures permanent, creating a more stable and mutually beneficial trading environment for essential products.

The piece also highlights the significant role of administrative inefficiency as a barrier to trade in essential goods, in some cases adding as much to the cost of products as tariffs themselves. Drawing on the example of Kenya’s pharmaceutical import procedures, it makes the case for a thorough review of streamlining opportunities.

Importantly, the author distinguishes between protectionism — the pursuit of economic advantage for domestic producers — and legitimate precautionary measures designed to protect public health and safety. Trade rules, properly applied, can accommodate both, but conflating the two erodes trust among trading partners and undermines the case for open trade. The piece concludes with a call for governments to weaponise international cooperation in the face of the pandemic, recognising that no country can succeed alone in managing a crisis of this magnitude.

Read the full blog post here.