Innovation Mercantilism’s Dangerous Consequences for American Manufacturing

Over the last decade, a growing number of countries have come to embrace a new kind of protectionist trade policy that seeks to expand domestic innovation capacity and technology exports by manipulating the international trading system and subverting the intent of free trade. ITIF calls these practices “innovation mercantilism,” and they cover a wide range of methods, including localization barriers to trade (LBTs), indigenous innovation, currency manipulation, and intellectual property theft. Together, these policies drastically inhibit the ability of U.S. enterprises to effectively compete.