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Free Trade and Protectionism in Food and Agriculture

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Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics

Synonyms

Mercantilism; Open markets; Trade liberalization; Trade policies

Introduction

Debates between advocates of free trade and those who favor more protectionist policies seem particularly charged when the topic is international trade in food and agricultural products. World Trade Organization (WTO) discussions of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) have been slowed in large part as a result of differences over global rules to govern agricultural trade. The agricultural provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) caused a great deal of consternation in all three countries, and many of the most intractable trade disputes brought to the WTO concern food and agricultural issues (Hobbs 2014; Levidow 2014a, b). The controversies surrounding free trade and protectionism for agricultural goods are part of wider debates about the effects of trade on economic well-being and the best way to organize global economic relations. For some, international trade and globalization...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA

    E. Wesley F. Peterson

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  1. E. Wesley F. Peterson
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Correspondence to E. Wesley F. Peterson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

    David M. Kaplan

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Peterson, E.W.F. (2019). Free Trade and Protectionism in Food and Agriculture. In: Kaplan, D.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1179-9_263

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