Fire lines as fault lines: increased trade barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic further shatter the global food system

Kevin Z Chen; Rui Mao

doi:10.1007/s12571-020-01075-2

Fire lines as fault lines: increased trade barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic further shatter the global food system

Food Secur. 2020;12(4):735-738. doi: 10.1007/s12571-020-01075-2. Epub 2020 Jul 8.

Authors

Kevin Z Chen^{1

2}, Rui Mao¹

Affiliations

¹ China Academy for Rural Development (CARD), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
² International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Beijing, China.

Abstract

In this opinion piece, we highlight that trade barriers established during COVID-19 as "fire lines" to prevent cross-border transmission of the pandemic could become "fault lines" that demolish the global food system. We review restrictions on both international agricultural exports and imports, especially unilateral border controls such as import refusals and alerts, in previous epidemics and arising with two novel features amid COVID-19. Institutional causes to pervasive trade barriers in epidemics that are embedded in the WHO-WTO coordination scheme have been discussed. In the meantime, discussions on potential economic outcomes and policy recommendations have been provided.

Keywords: Border controls; COVID-19; Global food system; Trade barriers.