New Era of U.S. and the EU Protectionism: How Will It Affect East Asia?

Global political economy has been experiencing a new normal period through the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine War since Jan. 2020. At the same time, the trade conflict between the USA and China has been continuing since the Trump Administration and even expanding to the technology conflict under the Biden Administration that has enhanced protectionism in the world trade. Due to these conflicts, discussions on de-globalization or re-globalization are raised. The two expected or unexpected historical events have resulted in a long wave of high inflation, energy and food crises, disorder of global supply chains etc. in the global economy, which is known as a new normal era shifted from low inflation, well-functioning global supply chains (GSCs) based on division of labor. In order to strengthen its economic and political leadership, the Biden government has upgraded the Trump's America First Policy to the Made in America Policy based on Chips and Science Act (CSA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which represent a new era of protectionism. In parallel, the EU has also considered to impose Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) and other Acts. The research hypothesis is that protectionism in the name of economic security generates instability of the world trade. Its result may be negative impacts of some East Asian economies. This paper aims to analyze the new trend of protectionism in the USA and the EU. It also focuses on impacts of protectionism on East Asia in general and South Korea in particular.