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The following article presents a brief analysis of the effects on the economy and international trade of the rules and policies implemented in the world to face and contain the covid-19 pandemic, including: i) export restrictions on medical supplies and personal protective equipment, as well as import facilitation measures; ii) travel limitations and border closures; and iii) the effects of the uncertainty generated by the sanitary emergency on foreign direct investment. In addition, the paper proposes that one of the long-term consequences of covid-19 will be a generalized increase in protectionist policies through trade remedies and tariff and non-tariff barriers, in response to the economic recovery measures implemented in each country. Particularly, China has such an aggressive exports recovery plan, that it will potentially trigger a wave of trade remedies across the globe, to contain its expansion on foreign markets. The history of international trade development demonstrates that an increase in trade remedies, has been a usual response in the world, after deep financial crisis. In this case, early signs of the increase in protectionism are already appearing in some countries, especially in the steel industry. Thus, it is probable that, in the context of a global economic recovery, countries continue to adopt measures to protect the sustainability of their national industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses Kazakhstan's vision of long-term development and its ambitious goals. After revising the history of the infrastructure projects in the country during the tsarist period and the Soviet era, it sets out the plans of the Kazakh president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, to turn the country into a logistical hub between East and West by 2050. Later, the paper puts Nazarbayev's vision in the context of the political and economic reality of Kazakhstan, focussing, specifically, on how the government's multivector foreign policy fluctuates between Russia's regional integration projects and the Chinese push westwards to develop Xinjiang province along the new Silk Road. As a conclusion, it identifies the multiple goals that may put the future of this plan in doubt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the profound transformations in the Argentine economy in recent years, this paper analyzes the evolution of trade specialization patterns, due to their effects on the long-term sustainability of economic growth and income distribution. This shows that, although a strong expansion in exports has been seen recently, the pattern of trade specialization continues to reflect a concentrated profile of primary goods and manufactures with low-level technology and job content. In other words, there has still been no structural transformation in the competitiveness of sectors unassociated with natural resources, compared with those that make abundant use of them. However, this phenomenon is taking place in a context where important modifications are occurring in the distribution of trade balances with different partners, where China is starting to acquire an important role. At the same time, the study points to the relationship between these modifications and the evolution of the pattern of specialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]