Argue for and against the government protecting domestic pro

Argue for and against the government protecting domestic producers through the use of antidumping duties. Identify at least two advantages and two disadvantages.

Solution

Dumping is said to occur when the goods are exported by a country to another country at a price lower than its normal value. This is an unfair trade practice which can have a distortive effect on international trade. Anti dumping is a measure to rectify the situation arising out of the dumping of goods and its trade distortive effect. Thus, the purpose of anti dumping duty is to rectify the trade distortive effect of dumping and re-establish fair trade. Anti Dumping duty id a protectionist tariff that a domestic government imposes on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value. In the United States, anti-dumping duties are imposed by the Department of Commerce and often exceed 100%. They come into play when a foreign company is selling an item significantly below the price at which it is being produced. The logic behind anti-dumping duties is to save domestic jobs, although critics argue that this leads to higher prices for domestic consumers and reduces the competitiveness of domestic companies producing similar goods.

Anti dumping is an instrument for ensuring fair trade and is not a measure of protection per se for the domestic industry. It provides relief to the domestic industry against the injury caused by dumping.

Anti-dumping duties are believed to distort the market because the government cannot determine what constitutes a fair market price for any good or service. This is because fair market value is whatever price the market will bear as determined by supply and demand.

Countries can slap duties on cheap imports that they judge are being “dumped” in their markets.