Research On Trade Liberalization In Transition Countries In The Context Of Economic Globalization

Trade liberalization is one reflection of economic globalization and marketization tendency in international trade. It's a process of elimination of discriminatory treatment, of reduction of tariffs and other forms of trade barriers in international trade, which is based on reciprocal and mutually advantageous arrangements by means of unilateral, bilateral and regional economic co-operations. The ultimate goal of the process is to realize the optimum allocation of resources worldwide, and increase the production and trade in goods and services. Trade liberalization is not only a process but also a state. During its development process, it manifests the characteristics of openness, neutrality and weakening of government intervention.Trade liberalization is the basic manifestation of economic globalization, which is the decisive power to drive economic globalization, in return, the increasing development of economic globalization makes trade liberalization the principal direction of foreign trade for all countries. And those transition countries initiate the trade liberalization reform in the course of transition to market economy, and the main measures they have taken are to eliminate the national monopoly in foreign trade, to ease restrictions on foreign trade players, to implement import and export liberalization, to reduce tariffs, to gradually slacken control over imports, to reduce various types of non-tariff barriers, and to increase entry standard of trade in services. Well, the results of trade liberalization are varied because those transition countries have followed different transition paths. The countries like Russia have taken the radical reform measures and thorough trade liberalization at one go. The consequences of doing so are that a large amount of rare materials are exported, know-hows are disclosed and imports greatly increase, which greatly impact the domestic industries. Thus, many factories go bankrupt, production decreased, workers unemployed, serious inflation occurred, industrial structure worsened, and national security greatly threatened. Whereas, China has undertaken gradual reform and gradual trade liberalization, which guarantees a stable and sustained growth at the time of liberalizing trade.The economic transition and trade liberalization taking place in those transition countries is a process which needs gradual explorations and continuous innovation. Complete trade liberalization needs to take healthy market economy system and perfect macro-control system as the foundation and conditions. Since the transition countries have no such foundation, their trade liberalization is destined to be a long process. Whereas, what trade liberalization brings to those countries is not only enormous foreign exchange and advanced technology and experiences but also the bad effect on their domestic industries, and latter will affect the development of the domestic industries, affect the employment level and macroeconomic stability. Therefore, the government's role is extremely important in the process of trade liberalization. The governments of those transition countries should have a thorough knowledge and complete research on trade liberalization, in addition, they should fully understand the essentiality of trade liberalization. They should gradually open their home market based on the developing situation of the domestic industries, and implement strategic trade policies. Besides, they need to cultivate competitive industries in accordance with WTO permitted rules, to change those old ideas, to perfect the macro-control measures and generate a fair competition environment for those market players.When we have a thorough view of the reform and practices of trade liberalization in those transition countries, we will find that the guiding ideology of trade liberalization held by those governments have changed a lot, that is, the change from the Neoliberalism's Washington Consensus into Ronaldâ… . Mckinnon's Theory of Optimum Order. At present, the transition countries have perceived that the governments are supposed to play a role in macro-control during the process of trade liberalization, in fact, they have taken relevant measures. However, in the process of system transition, there exist some common problems in those countries such as the defective macro-control of governments, indefinite trade strategies, unreasonable trade structure, low market openness and low competitiveness in trade.This thesis paper gives a thorough analysis of various security risks confronted by the transition countries in their trade liberalization while sets the trade liberalization in the context of economic globalization. It points out that the transition countries should intensify macro-control in the process of trade liberalization. Furthermore, the thesis paper puts forward the paths and counter-measures for the transition countries to intensify trade liberalization in terms of trade in goods, services and joining in regional economic integration. The paper consists of seven chapters, and the framework is as follows: Chapterâ… is the introduction, which mainly explains the selected topic and its significance, the present situation of the researches, besides, it introduces the framework of the research and original ideas as well as the deficiencies of the paper.Chapterâ…¡is the overview of economic globalization and trade liberalization.It summarizes the theory of economic globalization and take the theory as the base of this paper. It argues about the implication and characteristics of trade liberalization. In addition, it analyzes the significance and costs of trade liberalization as well as its historic practices and progress. It further points out that trade liberalization is a gradual process so the transition countries should have a clear knowledge about its implication, features, significance and costs, and then gradually open their markets, meanwhile, pay attention to the costs and avoid risks timely.Chapterâ…¢presents the process of trade liberalization in the transition countries and analyzes the reasons for doing so. It points out that trade liberalization is necessary for the transition countries to transform their economy system to market economy. This part talks about the process of trade liberalization in those countries, and briefly comments on its features. Besides, it takes Russia and China as examples to analyze the liberalization achievements by means of theoretical analysis and empirical analysis. It further points out that the liberalization achievements vary from one country to another, which proves that the positive roles played by foreign trade in economic growth haven't fully developed, and those countries should pay attention to this problem.Chapterâ…£analyzes the relationships between trade liberalization and the state's economic security, and gives specific analysis of various forces of trade in import and export in the transition countries which affect the state's economic security. It points out that the governments should attach great importance to the state's security in the process of trade liberalization during the period of economic transition, and take effective measures to avoid risks in order to guarantee the state's economic security.Chapterâ…¤presents the theories and practices of state economic intervention in the transition countries, and points out that national macro-control is essential in the course of trade liberalization for the transition countries. It further argues that in the process of trade liberalization in the transition countries, the macro-control measures should include developing trade development strategies in conformity with the national conditions, implementing strategic trade policies, quickening industrial structure transformation, improving international competitiveness in trade and transforming functions, generating a fair competition environment and developing government's service function.Chapter VI puts forward the specific measures to intensify trade liberalization in the transition countries based on the previous analysis. It argues that the prerequisite for transition countries to realize trade liberalization is to guarantee the state's economic security, and the liberalization is built on the state's macro-control over trade liberalization process. As for trade in goods, those countries should transform the trade structure, improve products'technology and realize market's diversification. In terms of trade in services, those countries should greatly develop the services, optimize export structure of trade in services, and improve the national competitiveness in trade in services. Furthermore, the transition countries should actively join regional organizations of economic integration in order to quicken the reform in trade liberalization in the context of fast development of regional economic co-operations.Chapterâ…¦is the conclusion. It presents some counter-measures and suggestion for those export enterprises to improve their technology and competitiveness. This part points out that those enterprises should implement intellectual property strategy and increase technology content in products. In addition, they should study more about all kinds of trade barriers and try to perfect their systems so as to improve their competitiveness, and therefore, to radically improve the competitiveness in trade of those transition countries.