International Trade Liberalization and Protectionism: A Review

Trade liberalization and protectionism have different characteristics and functions. Under the background of the epidemic outbreak and economic crisis, the global economy is affected detrimentally. How to effectively speed up economic recovery and promote future economic development through international trade liberalization and protectionism is the core content that the paper wants to explore. This paper uses the literature review method to sort out and summarize the relevant literature on international trade liberalization and protectionism. Through sorting the literature, comparatively analyzes the research status of trade liberalization, trade protectionism, and the disputes between them. The specific findings of the research are that, in general, strong countries tend to use trade liberalization while weak countries are willing to implement trade protection. Based on the epidemic situation, most countries should choose trade protectionism to protect domestic profits in the short term and continue to implement trade liberalization in the long run to promote global economic growth. In the future, countries need to strengthen cooperation in epidemic prevention, trade liberalization, and trade protection should develop in parallel to promote economic globalization.