Reduction Of Trade Barriers Research Articles

Re-examining Indonesia’s Nickel Export Ban: Does it Violate the Prohibition to Quantitative Restriction?

The fundamental principles adopted by the WTO are free trade and trade liberalization, realized through the reduction of trade barriers like quantitative restrictions. This paper examines the parameters of a measure that can be construed as a quantitative restriction in violation of WTO law. It also examines whether Indonesia’s measures in prohibiting the export of nickel ores and imposing domestic processing requirements violate WTO law. The statutory and case study approaches were used to determine and analyze Indonesia’s measures. The parameter for quantitative restriction is imposed in Article XI: I of the GATT 1994. The parameter warrants that a measure shall be in the form of prohibitions or restrictions apart from duties, taxes, or charges. The measure must also be enacted through quotas, import or export licenses, or other measures such as import or export prohibitions. Finally, the nature of the measure must be limited in amounts. However, a measure that fulfills such parameters may not violate WTO law if it is justified under exclusionary articles under the GATT 1994. The paper concludes that Indonesia’s measures above constitute quantitative restrictions, as they fulfill the parameters above. However, there is a possibility that the measures may not violate WTO law. This is because the measures also fulfil the parameters of justifications under Article XX (g) of the GATT 1994 on general exceptions and to a lesser extent under Article XI: (2)(a) of the GATT 1994 on the exception to quantitative restrictions.

Key points for green management of water-energy-food in the Belt and Road Initiative: Resource utilization efficiency, final demand behaviors and trade inequalities

As the largest contemporary platform for international cooperation, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) may carry the risk of increasing pressure on water, energy and food (WEF) resources while driving economic development. WEF nexus analyses can help promote green and sustainable management of the BRI's resources, but has received little attention. Based on a multi-regional input-output model, this study identifies key points of WEF nexus management in the BRI from WEF utilization efficiency, final demand behavior and trade inequality. On the supply side, the common points of inefficiency in WEF use were primarily manufacturing and transport and communication in China and India, chemicals and manufacturing in Russia, and chemicals, manufacturing, and transport and communication in Iran. Water and food systems were closely linked through the planting industry. The focus for adjustment was the direct water and land use efficiency of the planting industry in India and Pakistan. On the final demand side, household consumption drove 73.6%, 50.0%, and 80.1% of WEF, respectively; particularly richer countries (e.g., South Korea and Italy) had more serious overconsumption problems. The macro-control points of investment behavior primarily include manufacturing, construction, and transport and communication in China, South Korea, Italy, and Russia. With the reduction of trade barriers, countries with a propensity to export, particularly those with resource scarcity, face trade-offs in export behavior (e.g., exports of crops, and food and tobacco from China, India and Pakistan). Notably, for certain resource-rich economies, such as Southeast Asia, Russia, and West Asia, improving the efficiency of relevant sectors, rather than restricting exports, is the priority. In bilateral trade, richer countries acquired both economic and resource advantages, whereas countries such as China, India, and Pakistan faced serious trade inequalities. Greener and more equitable WEF development in the BRI could be better promoted through strengthening dialogue and cooperation regarding supply and demand at these key points. • WEF nexus and trade inequality were analyzed to promote BRI's green development. • Key WEF efficiency improvement points in the BRI were identified on the supply side. • Important final demand behaviors in the BRI requiring macro-control were determined. • Unequal trade pairs related to resource costs and economic benefits were revealed. • Improved co-management of WEF between unequal trade pairs should be prioritized.

English

This study examines the effect of savings on investment in East African countries in the face of the recent reduction in trade barriers and other regional integration policies. The findings reveal that among all the regions in Africa, East Africa had the lowest household saving for the period 2000-2016 and only Burundi and Kenya savings and investment rates were co-integrated. The policy implication is that the domestic saving rates significantly drive economic growth via investment in only Burundi and Kenya. In addition, there was weaker impact of savings on investment in the East African Community (EAC) due to flexible capital mobility and harmonized government policies. These findings also corroborate the Solow model that capital accumulation (saving) is not the main driver of economic growth (investment) but rather exogenous technological progress. The study therefore recommends that knowledge, education and skills of the labor force, number of years of schooling, learning by doing, the strength of property rights, the quality of infrastructure, cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship and work should be improved in the EAC.   Key words: Savings, investment, capital mobility, co-integration, economic growth.

How different COVID-19 recovery paths affect human health, environmental sustainability, and food affordability: a modelling study

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic arrived at a time of faltering global poverty reduction and increasing levels of diet-related diseases, both of which have a strong link to poor outcomes for those with COVID-19. Governments responded to the pandemic by placing unprecedented restrictions on internal and external movements, which have resulted in an economic contraction. In response to the economic shock, G20 governments have committed to providing US$14 trillion stimuli to support economic recovery. We aimed to assess the impact of different COVID-19 recovery paths on human health, environmental sustainability, and food sustainability.MethodsWe used LandSyMM, a global gridded land use change model, to analyse the impact of recovery paths from COVID-19. The paths were illustrated by four scenarios that represent different pandemic severities (including a single or recurrent pandemic) and alternate modes of recovery, including a transition of food demand towards healthier diets that result in changes to the food system: (1) solidarity and celery, (2) nothing new, (3) fries and fragmentation, and (4) best laid plans. For each scenario, we modelled the economic shocks of the pandemic and the impact of policy measures to promote healthier diets in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic, including the supply of and demand for food, environmental outcomes, and human health outcomes. The four scenarios use established future population growth and economic development projections derived from the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways 2. We quantified the outcomes from more societally cooperative pandemic responses that result in reduced trade barriers and improved technological development against less cooperative responses.FindingsRepeated pandemic shocks (the fries and fragmentation and best laid plans scenarios) reduce the ability of the lowest income countries to ensure food security. A post-pandemic recovery that includes dietary transition towards the consumption of less meat and more fruits and vegetables (the solidarity and celery scenario) could prevent 2583 premature deaths per million in 2060, whereas recovery paths that are focused on economic recovery (the fries and fragmentation scenario) could trigger an additional 778 deaths per million in 2060. The transition of dietary preferences towards healthier diets (the solidarity and celery scenario) also reduces nitrogen fertiliser use by 40 million tonnes and irrigation water by 400 km3 compared with no dietary change in 2060 (the nothing new scenario). Finally, the scenario with dietary transition increases the affordability of the average diet.InterpretationThe economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is most visible in low-income countries, where a reduction in growth projections makes a greater difference to the affordability of a basic diet. A change in dietary preferences is most impactful in reducing mortality and the burden of disease when income levels are high. At lower income, a transition towards lower meat consumption reduces undernourishment and diet-related mortality.FundingThe Global Food Security's Resilience of the UK Food System Programme project, with support from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council, and the Scottish Government.

Contingencies in the relationship between trade and internal conflict in Nigeria: the role of the quality of the political institution

PurposeThis paper empirically tests the relationship between conflict and trade in Nigeria from 1986 to 2017.Design/methodology/approachThis study made use of secondary data. Time-series data were collected from CBN Statistical Bulletin, WDI of the World Bank, MEPV of the Centre for Systemic Peace database, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, political risk ratings of the ICRG, Freedom in the World Country Ratings of Freedom House, and ACLED database. This study used descriptive and econometrics techniques to analyze the data. It adopted the IV-GMM techniques.FindingsThe study found that domestic trade has a negative and significant effect on internal conflict in Nigeria. International trade, on the other hand, does not affect internal conflict. In addition, the interaction of trade and institutions shows that more civil liberties (CL) and lower corruption (COR) complement the effect of domestic and international trade in reducing hostilities in Nigeria over the study period.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of this study is the inaccessibility of data. This study could not access the data on the volume of domestic trade in Nigeria. The study employed value-added tax on all domestic transactions in Nigeria as a proxy for domestic trade in the country. The study recommends that further studies should access the data on the volume of domestic trade as this could help further understand the relationship between domestic trade and internal conflict in Nigeria.Practical implicationsSince the improved domestic trade reduces internal conflict in Nigeria, the government should formulate policies that facilitate trade. Improving anti-graft efforts and CL will ease the process of formulating trade policies and increase the impact of domestic trade on internal conflict. Furthermore, these will reduce trade barriers and transaction costs. This can be achieved if the government strengthens its anti-COR agencies by making them more autonomous. CL can also be increased by enhancing voice and accountability in the country.Originality/valueThis study advances the literature by examining the role political–institutional quality plays in the relationship between trade and conflict.

Can raising trade barriers curb industrial pollution emissions?

The development of foreign trade and industrial pollution control is an important theme of government governance today. Based on the institutional background of rising international trade protectionism, this study examines the impact of trade barriers on industrial pollution emissions by using different measurement methods and data from 16 industrial sectors in 10 major countries. The results show that lowering trade barriers can significantly reduce industrial pollution emissions, considering the impact of potential endogenous problems. Heterogeneity analysis shows that reducing trade barriers in developed countries can reduce industrial SO2-emission intensity, while the opposite is true in developing countries. Trade barriers have the greatest effect on the pollution-emission intensity of technology-intensive industries, followed by labor-intensive and capital-intensive industries. Mechanism analysis shows that trade barriers affect industrial pollution-emission intensity through both pollution emission and industrial output and that energy-use intensity and biased technological progress are important mechanisms. This study provides a useful reference for governments to promote foreign trade development and ecological and environmental protection.

Diversification of directions for the export of hydrocarbons from Russia in the new geopolitical conditions

The paper evaluates revenues from the export of oil and oil products in the structure of federal budget revenues and the trade balance of Russia. It is shown that there is a change in development priorities - an increase in the tax burden on the domestic market through the mineral extraction tax and a reduction in trade barriers to foreign trade. The main trading partners remain the countries of Europe and the neighboring countries, however, in the long term, diversification and growth in the supply of oil and oil products from Russia is associated with the Asia-Pacific countries (China and India), because. they have the highest rates of population growth and oil consumption over the past 5 years.

Tracking the diversity and Mediterranean lineage of Brucella melitensis isolates from different animal species in Turkey using MLVA-16 genotyping

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease with a high prevalence in humans and farm animals in Turkey. However, data on the genetic diversity of Brucella spp. circulating in Turkey and parts of the Mediterranean region are limited. In the present study, the genetic diversity of 50 B. melitensis isolates from seven regions of Turkey was investigated using multi-locus variable number tandem repeats analysis (MLVA-16). The profiles were compared with 163 B. melitensis isolates recovered from the Mediterranean basin. B. melitensis strains from Turkey contain 46 different genotypes and consist of two main clusters. B. melitensis isolates from Turkey were closely related to isolates from Greece and some Portuguese strains. The same genotypes isolated from different sites show the spread between sites. Therefore, uncontrolled animal movements and the trade of imported animals can be important factors for the spread of brucellosis. The endemic occurrence of B. melitensis in the Mediterranean basin is a result of socio-historical links between Mediterranean countries. Turkish strains belong to the Eastern Mediterranean line. Eradicating brucellosis in countries of the Mediterranean basin with high prevalence is a demanding need to reduce trade barriers and, more importantly, prevent human suffering

The Impact of Trade Barrier Reductions on Global Value Chains for Agricultural Products in China and Countries along the ‘Belt and Road’

AbstractThe Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) may potentially reduce trade barriers between China and countries along the Belt and Road (BR) route, affecting the positions in Global Value Chains (GVCs) of agricultural products of these countries. This study explores the BRI influence on the GVC positions using a global computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and focusing on China and the BR countries. The study finds that the reduction of tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers between countries along ‘the Belt and Road’ results in increased producer prices and volumes of almost all agricultural products exported from China, which improves the position of China in the GVCs of these agricultural products in our best estimate scenario. Countries along the BR route also benefit from the reduction in trade barriers, with improved positions in the GVCs of agricultural products in the best estimate scenario, especially those products that have comparative advantages in GVCs.

Comparative Analysis of Trends in the Ukrainian and Chinese Economies

Nowadays, the global economic environment is full of uncertainties. Affected by the novel coronavirus epidemic, the economies of various countries are developing slowly or falling into recession. In this case, countries face different uncertainties. The article analyzes the economic development direction of China and Ukraine. Judging from the GDP per capita of both Ukraine and China in the past ten years, China has been growing steadily every year, while Ukraine has changed more. Therefore, the article analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the 12 pillars of the Global Competitiveness Index for the two countries through the period of 2018–2019, an indicator that measures a country’s ability to grow in the medium and long term. It is found that Ukraine has problems in stability and macroeconomic stability, while China has problems in social cohesion and innovation ability, and puts forward corrective opinions to determine the direction of development. In addition, by analyzing the overall ranking of China and Ukraine in the Global Competitiveness Index from 2009 to 2019, it is found that the economic growth capacity of these countries has partially developed in the same direction in the past decade. However, due to the influence of political and macroeconomic factors, the focus of the development of these countries is to hope that the countries will correct the existing problems as soon as possible, formulate corresponding policy plans, and strengthen and ensure the implementation of the relevant policy. In addition, our countries will continue to strengthen the construction of global integration, reduce trade barriers, increase the liquidity of commodities, speed up the processes, promote the circulation of production factors, accelerate economic growth, and enhance competitiveness. The future can be expected.

Climate and trade policies: from silos to integration

ABSTRACT This paper investigates linkages between trade and climate policies by examining commitments made in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. While environmental protection and economic growth are often perceived as conflicting policy goals, PTAs and NDCs have the potential to encourage mutually supportive approaches to climate and trade governance. Building upon three recent datasets, the paper locates a sample of 21 countries in a typology of four issue-linkage strategies across both types of instruments: policy integration, policy silos, asymmetry in favour of trade policy, and asymmetry in favour of climate policy. It finds that countries that reveal a preference for strong linkage with climate in their PTAs typically do not reveal a preference for strong trade linkage in their NDCs, and vice versa. No state from the sample favours strong policy integration. After sketching out possible explanations for this observation, the paper concludes that policy-makers have significant room for enhancing synergies between trade and climate commitments and that scholars have a role to play in this endeavour. Key policy insights There is substantial untapped potential for simultaneously promoting trade and tackling the climate crisis across borders in future NDCs and PTAs. In future NDCs, trade provisions, e.g. the reduction of trade barriers for climate-friendly goods and services, should be strengthened in national climate plans. Countries should make better use of climate provisions in their PTAs, e.g. to encourage their trade partners to commit to binding climate objectives and foster exchanges of climate-friendly goods and services.

Роль митної системи у забезпеченні конкурентоспроможності ЄС в умовах сталого розвитку

At the present stage, there is a problem of ensuring the sustainable development at all levels. The United Nations has declared 17 Global Goals that must be realized by subjects of mega-, macro-, meso- and microlevels, including customs authorities. In the context of European integration, an important task for Ukraine is to increase competitiveness following the example of successful European states. At the same time, the competitiveness of the country is a multifaceted and multidimensional concept that is influenced by numerous environmental factors. At the present stage, one of the key determinants of the state's competitiveness is its sustainable development. Today, the concept of sustainable development is a new challenge for national customs systems, that’s why it is appeared the need to justify their role in achieving the Global Goals to increase the country's competitiveness. The Sustainable Development Goals exist immanently in the basic functions performed by the customs authorities. After all, the service function of customs bodies is aimed at simplifying customs and trade procedures for law-abiding business in order to intensify international trade as a basis for economic growth. The security and control function of the customs system provides for the protection of the state and its citizens from dangerous and low-quality products that pose a threat to human health and life. The fiscal function of customs authorities is aimed at filling the state budget with customs payments in order to finance the priority areas of the country's development. Achieving the Global Goals is made possible through the use of a variety of customs documents and tools that need to be improved towards sustainable development. Thus, customs authorities are involved in overcoming poverty and hunger in the world by intensifying global trade flows, which, accordingly, provides additional opportunities for employment and filling the state budget with taxes. In this context, it is a matter of assisting the customs authorities to achieve the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 16th and 17th Sustainable Development Goals. In modern conditions, international trade plays a significant role in shaping a stable economy and the welfare of society. In this context, customs authorities contribute to the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 16th and 17th Global Goals by reducing trade barriers to form inclusive societies. Customs are also involved in protecting the planet and ensuring its stability for future generations, while contributing to the achievement of the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th Global Goals.

GLOBAL TRADE LIBERALIZATION AND THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Recent decades have seen rapid growth of the world economy. This growth has been driven in part by the even faster rise in international trade. The growth in trade is in turn the result of both technological developments and concerted efforts to reduce trade barriers. Some developing countries have opened their own economies to take full advantage of the opportunities for economic development through trade, but many have not. Remaining trade barriers in industrial countries are concentrated in the agricultural products and labor-intensive manufactures in which developing countries have a comparative advantage. Further trade liberalization in these areas particularly, by both industrial and developing countries, would help the poorest escape from extreme poverty while also benefiting the industrial countries themselves.

Environmental regulations and international trade: A quantitative economic analysis of world pollution emissions

We develop and quantitatively evaluate a general equilibrium trade model with pollution as a byproduct of production to study the interactions between international trade, the environment, and environmental regulations. Our analysis suggests that environmental regulations provide a source of comparative advantage, but we fail to find evidence that reducing trade barriers causes pollution-intensive industries to concentrate in countries with weak environmental regulation stringency. The reason is that as a crucial determinant of pollution emissions and abatement, environmental regulations are weak in determining international specializations. By comparing environmental regulation stringency with other determinants of international trade, we identify productivity and trade costs as being the major forces that suppress the influence of environmental regulations on deciding international production and trade. Furthermore, we incorporate endogenous environmental policy into our framework and explore how environmental policy responds to trade liberalization. We allow for strategic environmental policy, but find its use as a substitute for tariffs to be quite limited. We also evaluate various forces that determine the overall impacts of international trade on worldwide pollution emissions.

The WTO, Trade Agreements, and Sustainable Trade: The Asian Experience

executive summary: This essay highlights how trade policies and sustainable development are inextricably connected. It selectively focuses on links of importance to Asian countries, the WTO, and the United Nation's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. main argument The evolution of the world trading system over the past half century has significantly changed the relationship between trade and sustainable development. The principal link comes from trade liberalization, which promotes growth and provides additional resources to advance sustainable development. Nowhere has this played a larger role than in Asia's economic transformation and with it the rise of millions out of poverty. For this link to be positive, a global trading system is needed with rules that support sustainable development while leaving the policy space to permit the appropriate national choices to be pursued. The WTO has a central role to play in achieving sustainable development. It has been greatly weakened in past years, but recent events indicate that the time is ripe to strengthen its rules to enhance its contribution to sustainable development. policy implications • The strengthening and reform of the WTO should be undertaken with a clear understanding of the interface between trade rules and the goals of sustainable development as well as the many options available to modify or create trade agreements. What is needed is an inventory of useful potential rule changes and the options available. • The reduction of trade barriers and the ensuing trade expansion will remain essential to promoting the growth and development of the Asian economies. In Asia, as elsewhere, expanded resources improve standards of living and reduce poverty while providing the means to protect and preserve the environment. • Numerous WTO and intergovernmental declarations stress the need for greater coherence and cooperation in global policymaking. Given the interdisciplinary nature of sustainable development and the overlap between trade and sustainable development, governments and organizations should make efforts to ensure the convergences of these policies are constructively exploited.

Digital Economy : A Journey Through 21st Century Towards 22nd Century with Respect to India

Digital Economy refers to an economy which is based on digital computing technologies and can also be referred to as internet economy or web economy as the business activities are conducted through markets based on the internet or the World Wide Web. A Digital Economy also refers to the usage of various digitised information and knowledge to perform various economic activities and uses various new technologies like Internet, Cloud Computing, Big Data Analytics to collect, store and analyse information digitally. This way the modern digital economies are helping the local and regional business organisations to come out of their local boundaries and step into the global scenario to take advantages of the modern liberalisation policies of the governments along with reduced trade barriers throughout the world. This paper will study the importance of digital economy in the modern world along with the difference between the traditional economy and the digital economy and the current state of digital economy in India. This Study has been casual, exploratory and empirical in nature and the data needed for research work has been collected by using both direct and indirect method of data collection.

Trading Away Tariffs: The Operations of the GATT System

AbstractSince its formation, the GATT/WTO system has facilitated a worldwide reduction of trade barriers. We return to a founding moment of the regime, the GATT 1947 (GATT47), and look closely at the liberalization process, analyzing exactly what concessions were granted to whom and in return for what. With these data, we evaluate three prominent explanations for the operation of the early GATT. First, we ask whether or not US negotiators granted asymmetric access to the US market to spur post-war recovery. Second, we look at how the rules adopted in GATT47 balanced the interests of import sensitive producers with those of the more nascent exporter interests. Third, we examine specific US concessions and ask whether or not the US used the domestic market to either increase the productive capacity of nations damaged during the war and/or to bolster unstable regimes. Our most general finding is that the US, at least in this first Round of the trade regime, was less a liberal warrior and more a seeker of stability, and that tariff setting was significantly constrained by the institutions governing global tariff negotiations.

How Do China's Importing Firms Respond to Non‐tariff Measures?

AbstractAfter the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, most countries gradually reduced their import tariffs to a fairly low level. However, the reduced tariffs could not be simply read as a reduction in trade barriers. Indeed, many suspect that countries tend to use more non‐tariff measures (NTMs), substituting them for tariff barriers, to protect their domestic economies. This paper uses newly compiled and detailed Chinese NTM data, together with highly disaggregated firm import data and manufacturing firm operational data, to investigate the impact of China's import‐related NTMs on firm imports. The main empirical results show that, as in the case of tariff barriers, China's trade policy NTMs mainly inhibit firms’ intermediate imports. In contrast, China's public policy NTMs significantly improve the intensive and extensive margins of firm's intermediate imports and raise the prices and quality of imported inputs. The greater the extent to which a firm engages in processing trade, the larger is the promoting effect of public policy NTMs on the firm's import margins for intermediate inputs, and the greater is the restricting effect on the prices and the quality of the firm's imported inputs.

The formation of open economies in post-communist countries: historical experience of Ukraine

The main purpose of the article is to identify the place of the Ukrainian economy in the global trading system as a result of post-communist transitions. It is historical and economic research of the specificity of Ukraine’s open economic model, formed in the early period of the country’s independence. Formation conditions of the exogenous model of Ukraine’s economic development in the 1990s – early 2000s are disclosed. It is analysed the political, economic, social and other factors of the country’s increased integration into the global trade space. An assessment of the impact of the high level of functional openness of Ukraine’s economy on the expansion of its foreign economic interaction is carried out. It is revealed that the high level of exogenization of the national economy caused superfluous consequences for the development of the country’s competitive advantages and strengthening of its role on the world markets. The article reveals the peculiarities of Ukraine's institutional openness development, which required trade liberalization. It is analysed the process of transformation of national customs and tariff regulation in terms of reduction of trade barriers, which became one of the factors of Ukraine’s accession to the World Trade Organization.

Does infrastructure facilitate trade connectivity? Evidence from the ASEAN.

This paper explores the impact of infrastructure on trade connectivity among ASEAN and three Asian countries—India, China, and Japan. Our study is mainly motivated by the increased infrastructure investment and trade among these countries in recent years. The main results of trade network analysis include high trade density and interconnectedness among ASEAN, India, China, and Japan. There are specific “trade intensive paths” among the few countries in the group. It highlights the “export hubs” or main “suppliers of intermediate goods” in the region. Further, the paper analyzed the nexus between trade connectivity and infrastructure by applying the panel fixed effects method and Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood. Moreover, the robustness of the results is tested by estimating two-stage least square. Hard infrastructure, foreign direct investment plays a crucial role in bringing the nexus to trade connectivity. Reducing trade barriers and improving infrastructure quality are essential for deepening regional trade integration.