The impact of lockdowns on international trade[L'impact des confinements sur le commerce international]

Lockdowns and more generally restrictions introduced by governments during the Covid-19 pandemic contributed to the disruption of international trade in goods. We show that bilateral trade declined more when lockdowns were initially introduced in Spring 2020 with a higher degree of stringency. Moreover, the quantitative impact of lockdowns on trade weakened in the second half of 2020. This is especially the case of lockdowns implemented in the exporting country, which have little or no significant impact on trade in the second half of 2020. Les confinements imposés par les gouvernements durant la pandémie de Covid-19 ont contribué aux perturbations du commerce international de biens. Nous montrons que les échanges bilatéraux ont davantage diminué lors des premiers confinements, plus stricts, introduits au printemps 2020. En outre, l’impact quantitatif des confinements sur le commerce s’est atténué au second semestre 2020, notamment dans le cas du pays exportateur.