For a long time there has been a contest between free trade and trade protection as the best strategy of promoting local and global economy. When the globe is again in the midst of economic recession, this contest intensifies. The current recession knocks out a severe blow to free trade as the "game rules" of world economy and aggravates the perplexities of free trade in certain aspects,which then arouses suspicion on the legitimacy of free trade. In order to address domestic economic and social problems, the "stimulus packages" of some countries offer much support to trade protection, further intensifying this contest.Confronted with the global economic disaster, trade protection can be helpful for alleviating the pressure in a given economy and thus mitigating domestic contradictions in a short period, but it may also complicate the legal order of trade and bring hindrance to domestic markets as well as international ones, and consequently, it will jeopardize the rights and interests of ordinary consumers and even stir up the grievance and resentment domestically or internationally. As the current economic recession has been a pressing issue for all the countries,there is a dire need for concerted efforts in the globe to stimulate the vigor of world economy and tide over the disaster.