Benefits of Barriers to Trade

Basic role of trade barriers is to serve the purpose of Protectionism and Shielding. Mostly, trade barriers are used to protect the local industry. They are quite helpful and beneficial for the underdeveloped countries. This is because when a country imposes limitations or tariffs on imports, the domestic industries use it efficiently as it gives them greater market share which further helps the economy to gain competitiveness and become self-sufficient.
The government is “shielding” that is protecting its own businesses from external competition. If trade barriers are imposed efficiently, then young or underdeveloped nations can benefit a lot.
Trade barriers are used as a protection for protecting the interests of the consumers. A nation can impose restrictions on import of goods which may harm the consumers or can cause social unrest. Sometimes goods may also be a threat to a nation’s values as well as customs. In order to develop stability and enhance the strength of the economies, trade barriers are quite essential.
They also help in limiting over specialisation as served by the theory of comparative advantage. In short run, they also help in saving the jobs by protecting the industry. Trade Barriers used by developed nations help in supporting national security as they protect certain industries which are important economically. This is because Defence industries are extremely important and thus enjoy extreme protection levels by the nation.
It also helps the developing country to foster the growth of infant industries. Import Substitution Strategy is used by the infant industries to protect their interests. In a developing economy, tariffs are imposed by the government on imported goods. This helps in accelerating the growth of the domestic industries. This leads to a rise in price of imported goods thereby making them relatively expensive compared to domestically produced goods.
Thus, it provides a platform to domestic industries to expand their output levels which otherwise would have been vanished from the market due to low priced imported goods. Apart from the upliftment of domestic industries, there is great scope for employment generation along with a shift from agriculture to manufacturing sector.