Empirical Analysis on Trade Promotion Effect of “Rapid Clearance”

Abstract

In the era of low tariffs, the rapid clearance is likely to be an important means to break the trade barriers and promote the development of international trade. This paper summarizes the effect of rapid clearance on international trade in four aspects, and then conducts an empirical study through the export data of 113 countries from 2008 to 2010 and a Heckman two-stage selection model. The results show that rapid clearance plays a significant promotion role in trade participation and trade scale, and through robustness check from multiple perspectives, the conclusions are still valid. Through demand preference effect, cost effect and globalization production network effect, rapid clearance curbs the negative effects of increasingly growing non-tariff barriers to trade, making tariff reduction effect based on multilateral negotiations really exert. In addition, this paper also argues that the establishment of FTA can improve the trade volume between countries by enhancing the transparency of customs clearance efficiency and border management. The conclusions are of important significance to the understanding of the establishment of China's free trade zones and the implementation or provisions of rapid clearance measures in bilateral or multilateral trade negotiations, and a breakthrough in the technical barriers to trade.