Wartime Trade Policy Measures in Comparison of the Historical Periods of the First World War and the Special Military Operation

Abstract

With the beginning of the special military operation (SMO), a new type of foreign trade policy is forming, based on restrictions. History shows that the practice of restrictions on trade operations is not new. The article compares Russia’s trade policy measures introduced during the First World War of 2014–2018 and the SMO, which began in 2022. The goal is to identify tools that are not currently used. Restrictions on exports and imports, measures to stimulate imports, and measures to build new trade routes are considered. Even before the start of the SMO, from the moment of political aggravation, Russia limited the export of wood and fertilizers, which contradicted the Protocol on Accession to the WTO and the refusal of quantitative restrictions. Unfriendly countries that applied preventive sanctions against Russia, with the beginning of the SMO, denied Russia most favored nation treatment. As during the First World War, grains, flour and sugar were among the food products subject to government export restrictions. Both periods were characterized by measures to stimulate imports in an effort to provide industry with raw materials and equipment. Import restriction measures in the first period applied to luxury goods, in the second they took the form of sanctions against unfriendly countries. The war period was characterized by growing interest in the northern sea routes. Compared with World War I, modern export restriction policies were more varied in terms of product coverage, but lacked the specific details by export directions that were developed a century ago. Many of the modern measures allow exemptions only in relation to EAEU countries. In our opinion, exemptions from restrictions on the export of humanitarian goods could be made for the developing countries which are most in need of grain or fertilizers.