Globalisation Halt

Where trade flourishes, business is good. But trade does not always flourish. The linked forces of globalisation move in fits and starts.

The authors of Power and Plenty, a new book on trade over the last thousand years, tell us as much. "If anything," they write, "history suggests that globalisation is a fragile and easily reversible process."

One of the looming threats in 2009 is the reversal in trade flows and increasing barriers to trade.

For the first time since 1982, The World Bank predicts global trade volumes will shrink in 2009. Undoubtedly, global trade enjoyed a boom over the last two decades or so. The global slump, though, is taking a bite out of that happy ride. Already, through November, exports from China, Taiwan, Chile and South Korea plunged by 20% or more.

The falloff in trade is worrisome enough as a globe-trotting investor. In the last several years, companies with operations overseas did much better than those confined to North America. In 2008, though, that wasn't true. According to Bespoke Investment Group, stocks of companies that booked more than 50% of their revenues abroad fell 46% on average in 2008, versus a drop of 38% for those with no international revenue.

But there are signs that things could get much worse. Because like tea leaves steeping in a pot of hot water, the longer the economic slump persists, the more likely political trouble is to brew. The rise of barriers to trade is a particularly bitter brew of political trouble.

Already, a number of countries have taken actions to close their markets or protect domestic industry. Consider:

- Indonesia - new restrictions on over 500 goods as well as new fees for imports

- Russia - new tariffs on imported cars, poultry and pork

- France - a new state fund to protect French companies from foreign takeovers

- Argentina and Brazil - new tariffs on imported wine, leather goods, peaches and more

- India - a new 20% duty on imported soybean oils.

And then there is the U.S. bailout of the automakers, seen as an unfair subsidy by foreign competitors. This is only a partial list involving some of the bigger economies. However you view these moves politically, there is a good reason we should keep an eye on these things: They will affect how you invest.

For example, Russia is Europe's largest car market. But now there is a tax on foreign cars of as much as 35%. Moscow wants to protect its automakers. The Russian people are poorer because of it. But as an investor, your favorite automaker, which may have had a nice business selling cars in Russia, may now find it tough going.

Moscow also put high imports on poultry and pork. Russia is the largest market for U.S. poultry. If you own a chicken producer, this is not good news. Your potential profits in a big foreign market are cut, and such tariffs could result in excess poultry staying in the U.S., leading to falling prices and lower profits at home.

All of these kinds of moves tend to happen when economies weaken. They can also bring about nasty trade wars.

In 1930, America passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. It raised tariffs on a number of imported goods. As the authors of Power and Plenty contend: "It triggered a wave of tariff increases." By 1931, "average tariffs on foodstuffs had risen 53% in France, 59.5% in Austria, 66% in Italy, 75% in Yugoslavia, more than 80% in Czechoslovakia, Germany, Romania and Spain and to more than 100% in Bulgaria, Finland and Poland."

These were hard to unwind. It took decades to reverse these anti-trade policies. They certainly didn't help resolve the Great Depression.

I don't think it is a coincidence that global trade expanded nearly fourfold since 1990, during a time when the average tariff fell from 26% to 8.8% by 2007.

A reversal of that trend spells bad things for investors. So far, we're OK. Most of our companies sell goods that other countries can't get enough of - things like fertilizers, road-building machines and power equipment. In many foreign countries, there is little domestic supply. China, for instance, it is trying to keep fertilizers in, not out. In fact, the Chinese have made it easier to import goods such as potash.

Still, it's something to watch.

Regards,

Chris Mayer
for The Daily Reckoning Australia

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