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This paper is dedicated to the recent reforms in Uzbekistan’s foreign trade policy and the process of the country’s accession to the World Trade Organization. It pays special attention to the chemical industry trade; with the partial equilibrium model employed, expected changes in imports of chemicals, budget revenues and consumer welfare are revealed. Two scenarios — mere tariff reduction or abolition of country-specific discrimination practices in imports — are considered. Results show that, in the former case, imports of chemical products and consumer welfare will slightly increase and budget revenues will decline; the outcome in the latter case differs: budget revenues will grow considerably, whereas imports and consumer welfare will decrease. We conclude in the latter case that the negative effect will be outweighed by creating a fairer, more competitive environment thanks to removing discrimination practices such as import-specific excise taxes and exemptions on import duty payments for state companies.

Based on the international statistics data the author estimates effects of trade liberalization between Russia and East Asian countries. The prospective niche markets in mutual trade and the impact of trade liberalization on the national economies were identified. Using a partial equilibrium model the author indicates the following positive trade effects for Russia and East Asia: trade creation effect prevails over trade diversion effect; general welfare and mutual trade of the countries tend to increase. The Russian economy has positive trade effects with all the East Asian countries, with the highest scale in the case of Sino-Russian trade. At the same time trade liberalization has following some costs for the Russian economy: a) the growing role of imports, mostly from China, compared to Russian exports; b) reduction of tariff revenues, which are four times higher for Russia, compared to East Asian countries; c) continued negative trade balance with the East Asian countries. The evaluation shows that the increase of Russian exports to East Asian countries is feasible only for certain commodity groups which determine marketable niches of specific East Asian countries; at the same time, Russia can import from East Asia a huge range of commodity groups. The study reveals that reduction in tariff measures and non- tariff restrictions will not lead to a massive increase in Russian exports and changing in its trade and geographical structure. On the basis of prolongation of short-term trends the author identifies long-term challenges and opportunities for the Russian economy from trade liberalization with East Asian countries. According to the estimation results, the author suggests that in the current environment of global trade liberalization the tariff measures become less significant as a tool for redistribution of commodity flows