Fairness in Trade and Protectionist Policies: some Reflections

In spite of their divergences, global justice thinkers tend to agree that fairness in international trade requires the removal of trade barriers and hence of protectionist measures, especially on the part of rich countries. Behind this agreement, we find different kinds of considerations, some of which related to the idea that trade liberalisation is not genuinely, or at least not wrongfully, harming members of rich countries. My main purpose in this paper is to examine this idea in more detail and to show that it faces several difficulties which invite us to reconsider the moral acceptability of at least some protectionist policies.