International Law

Protectionist Policies in the Third World -- India Bans Chinese Toy Imports for Six Months

India's Directorate of Foreign Trade announced last week a temporary ban of six months on Chinese toy imports.

The Toys Manufacturers Association of India said it was pleasantly surprised by the decision of the Commerce Ministry to prohibit shipments of cheap toys from China.

Love that: "pleasantly surprised." Of course, it's all because of safety and quality concerns (heavily spiced with patriotic protectionist sentiment of the industry).

"You see Chinese toys everywhere. The good, upper-end toys are made in India, but the cheap toys in the street and small shops were being dominated by them. They are bringing in toys without safety norms," he said.

This may amount only to another inning in the game of international trade hardball these two nations have played over the past 15 years. Or it may be a harbinger of protectionist policies -- WTO be damned -- that may spread throughout the Third World. We now hear popular echoes -- ones heard and ignored for years -- redoubled in the U.S.

More than half of all Chinese toy exporters are reported to have closed their doors in 2008. Chinese toy exporters who've recently shipped product to China now find their inventory aboard ship unable to offload in Indian ports and probably unsaleable.

????????????????,???????,?????????????????????????????...?

[Editor's Translation: "Although India is not one of our primary export nations, the effect will definitely be felt, especially a negative effect upon the morale of our enterprises," said Guo Zhuo-cai, the Vice-Chair of the China Toy Association...]

The smaller Chinese factories with overflow and lower quality goods are more likely to suffer from the Indian ban. But protectionist sentiment may have taken root in the Third World. Watch it grow throughout those nations -- indeed, we may see a Chinese response in kind, not simply the bureaucratic nonsense of a WTO dispute China has threatened to lodge.

Full post as published by Asia Business Intelligence on February 03, 2009 (boomark / email).