Report topic: By examining the latest state interventions of any two countries, discuss whether these two countries are becoming more protectionist

Report topic: By examining the latest state interventions of any two countries, discuss whether these two countries are becoming more protectionist (i.e., turning inward). Select 2 salient state interventions imposed by these two countries in 2023 (one from each country) and discuss their implications on foreign/local firms and how foreign firms can potentially mitigate (or benefit from) the challenges (opportunities) posed by these state interventions. Notes on the Report

In this report, first you need to examine the latest state interventions of the two selected countries. You can find these state interventions from Global Trade Alert website:

https://www.globaltradealert.org and Investment Policy Monitor

: https://investmentpolicy.unctad.org/investment-policy-monitor.

For the first part, you can consider a suitable period, e.g., the most recent two years. You do not need to examine all the state interventions during this period individually, instead you can examine the trend of these state interventions, summaries of different types of state interventions, focus on the most important/impactful state interventions etc to determine whether these two countries are becoming more protectionist. You should give about 50% attention/weight to this part of the question.

For the second part, you need to select 2 salient (important/impactful) state interventions imposed by these two countries during 2023 and then discuss the implications of these 2 state interventions on foreign/local firms and how foreign firms can potentially mitigate (or benefit from) the challenges (opportunities) posed by these state interventions. It is better to select different types of interventions rather than selecting broadly similar state interventions or interventions with similar implications (e.g., selecting two different import barriers might lead to discussing similar implications). Foreign firms here refer to both foreign firms within the country and the firms outside the country (e.g., foreign firms that export to the selected country). You should give about 50% attention/weight to this part of the question. You do not have to completely rely on the Global Trade Alert website and Investment Policy Monitor, you can use other articles/material to supplement your analysis/ideas wherever relevant. E.g., depending on your choice of the country, you might find articles written on the protectionist stance/policies of that country that could be relevant for your discussion. You should include a cover page with the student IDs of all the group members. The word count (maximum 2,000 words) does not include cover page, tables, figures, footnotes/endnotes, appendices and references.