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Despite numerous attempts to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers, the average number of barriers in the agricultural sector, particularly in the palm oil sector, is rising. Non-tariff effects are subjective, which makes them challenging to quantify. A new palm oil trade restrictiveness index that considers each trade barrier imposed on palm oil exports, such as tariff and non-tariff measures, is necessary to facilitate the sector's exports. Hence, this study aims to calculate the trade restrictiveness index (TRI) of palm oil and analyse its impact on Malaysia's and Indonesia's palm oil exports. This study uses a gravity model with Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood (PPML) estimation to analyse the impact of trade barriers on world palm oil export for a sample of 59 major palm oil importing countries from 2009 to 2019. The study revealed that each importing country imposes different restrictions on Malaysia and Indonesia. The TRI showed a negative and significant relationship influencing palm oil exports in the case of Malaysia, while a positive and significant relationship for Indonesia. The policy implications of this study suggest that policymakers in both Malaysia and Indonesia should take proactive steps to comply with every criterion demanded by the importing country.

Despite numerous attempts to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers, the average number of barriers in the agricultural sector, particularly in the palm oil sector, is rising. Non-tariff effects are subjective, which makes them challenging to quantify. A new palm oil trade restrictiveness index that considers each trade barrier imposed on palm oil exports, such as tariff and non-tariff measures, is necessary to facilitate the sector's exports. Hence, this study aims to calculate the trade restrictiveness index (TRI) of palm oil and analyse its impact on Malaysia's and Indonesia's palm oil exports. This study uses a gravity model with Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood (PPML) estimation to analyse the impact of trade barriers on world palm oil export for a sample of 59 major palm oil importing countries from 2009 to 2019. The study revealed that each importing country imposes different restrictions on Malaysia and Indonesia. The TRI showed a negative and significant relationship influencing palm oil exports in the case of Malaysia, while a positive and significant relationship for Indonesia. The policy implications of this study suggest that policymakers in both Malaysia and Indonesia should take proactive steps to comply with every criterion demanded by the importing country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of a non-market economy structure on the duopoly competition in which a foreign private firm competes with a state-owned enterprise in a non-market economy. By comparing with Singh and Vives (1984) and Matsumura and Ogawa (2012), we find that the non-market economic structure can function as a trade barrier and cause foreign firms to face discriminatory competition. The transition from a non-market economy to a market economy may sacrifice social welfare, which implies no more Pareto improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on how technical barriers to trade (TBT) are addressed in recent EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). We analyze the pre- and post-EPA trade policies and the contested issues in Japan from the viewpoint of European businesses. An eclectic theoretical approach is adopted to study the economic, political and social aspects of trade barriers. Whereas formal trade barriers, such as tariffs and codified non-tariff barriers are easily discernible, the subtler informal trade barriers derive from social norms that guide administrative practices and are hard to measure, and largely neglected in recent research. Based on expert interviews, policy documents, and European business surveys, we observe that the enforcement of EPA in Japan lags behind concerning certain TBTs such as standards, approvals and testing. The findings suggest that informal trade barriers, often linked with investment barriers, have a bearing in the theorization on trade policies and free trade agreements.

In theory, previous studies believed that the export market of enterprises was homogeneous. There is no difference in each export market, which is obviously inconsistent with the actual trade situation. This paper divides the export market of enterprises into main export market and secondary export market according to the export status, explores the export changes of enterprises to the main export market and secondary export market respectively when the temporary trade barriers of the main export market to the trade exporting country are raised. This paper focuses on the impact of the main export market on the anti-dumping degree, countervailing level and the improvement of trade safeguard measures on the export conversion of enterprises between the main and secondary markets. The research shows that the increase of the anti-dumping degree of the main market against the trade exporting countries will lead to the higher probability of role exchange between the main and secondary markets; The countervailing level of the main market against the trade exporting countries rises, and the export of enterprises is more likely to turn to the secondary market; The greater the trade safeguard measures in the main market, the more likely the secondary market will become the main market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on how technical barriers to trade (TBT) are addressed in recent EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). We analyze the pre- and post-EPA trade policies and the contested issues in Japan from the viewpoint of European businesses. An eclectic theoretical approach is adopted to study the economic, political and social aspects of trade barriers. Whereas formal trade barriers, such as tariffs and codified non-tariff barriers are easily discernible, the subtler informal trade barriers derive from social norms that guide administrative practices and are hard to measure, and largely neglected in recent research. Based on expert interviews, policy documents, and European business surveys, we observe that the enforcement of EPA in Japan lags behind concerning certain TBTs such as standards, approvals and testing. The findings suggest that informal trade barriers, often linked with investment barriers, have a bearing in the theorization on trade policies and free trade agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural production, trade and environmental quality are interdependent. The US and China have been the world largest trade partners. However, trade tensions and interest in protectionist policies intensified in recent years. We use a price endogenous partial equilibrium model to systematically examine the impact of increased Chinese tariff on agricultural imports from the US on nitrogen (N) loss in China. The results show that a 25% tariff on US soybean imports increases the acreage of major crops in China by 1.37%. Although aggregate crop acreage increases, the impact on cumulative nitrogen fertilizer uses and the corresponding N loss from cropland is not significant as less N-intensive soybean acreage replaces some of the more N-intensive crops like wheat. However, our estimates show significant heterogeneity in N loss across Chinese provinces, ranging from 0.05% to 2.97% increase. These results identify provinces where remediation measures may be needed to effectively manage the potential increase in nitrogen loss associated with greater soybean production. • The tariff on soybean imports from the US increases soybean and corn production in China. • The tariff has a small but positive effect on N use and loss in China. • The increase in N loss varies across regions in China from 0.05 to 3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing the dual pressures of carbon mitigation and trade barrier, it is desired that variations of water footprints (WFs) with the related policy interferences be investigated in Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). In this study, a factorial equilibrium WFs model is developed to (a) tackle the interactive effects (on blue‐ and gray‐WFs) of different policy alternatives presented as multiple levels of carbon tax and import tariff; (b) explore the variations of blue‐ and gray‐WFs in specific socio‐economic sectors under multiple scenarios of the dual pressures; and (c) investigate the provincial WFs from the perspective of commodity consumption. It is found that increased import tariffs can boost the WFs of primary energy and resource‐conversion sectors, and can promote inter‐sectoral virtual‐water exchanges; carbon tax can suppress the WFs for most of the sectors, and can result in entirely declined industrial production. Moreover, carbon tax can lead to reduced water productivity in YREB, and thus exacerbate water shortage. Through this research, desired policies for water‐footprint management policies could be identified with maximized socio‐economic and environmental benefits. Key Points: A factorial equilibrium water footprint (WF) model for exploring the contributions of multiple policy alternatives on changes in WFs is proposedHigh carbon tax may sacrifice China's economy; trade barrier between China and the US may lead to negative impacts on China's food securityCarbon tax and trade barrier would reduce the blue WFs in the upper reach and would have opposite effects on the gray WFs in the lower reach [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continually growing international trade, which facilitates the introduction and spread of pests, requirements to minimize the risk of spreading pests are becoming increasingly important and trade barriers may emerge. As a result, phytosanitary aspects are becoming increasingly important for maintaining existing trade with plants and plant products and for the opening of new markets. The mandatory framework is mainly formed by the phytosanitary import regulations of third countries, but also by international standards. If the importing country has not established phytosanitary import regulations for a specific commodity, these can be negotiated and established in the course of a market opening procedure and the conduction of an appropriate pest risk analysis. At the best, a market access can be achieved. The individual steps of a market opening procedure are described and, based on three classes of goods important for Germany (apples, cereals and potatoes), it is shown which pests are relevant for third countries and which phytosanitary measures must be taken to prevent the spread of these pests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of spatial externalities in shaping China's economic geography by establishing a theoretical framework that contains regional productivity, trade barriers and local amenities to capture spatial externalities between different regions over time. Combining provincial data on bilateral trade flows with observed information about economic geography during the period 1998–2013, we estimate the distribution and marginal contribution of each explanatory factor. Empirical results suggest that regional labor density and wage are positively related to exogenous productivity and amenities, and negatively related to trade barriers. Meanwhile, variation in the marginal contribution of exogenous productivity and amenities and trade barriers reflects the regional temporal–spatial features in China's recent marketization process. Therefore, the Chinese government should place more emphasis on absorbing advanced technologies and reducing inter‐regional market barriers to promote balanced regional development and improve the efficiency of China's spatial resource allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extended trade gravity model is used and the multinational panel data from 2008 to 2017 are selected to explore the influencing factors of China's export of sporting goods along "the Belt and Road" countries. "The Belt and Road" country's theoretical export value of sporting goods in 2017 is measured. Through the ratio of the actual export value to the theoretical export value, the export potential of sporting goods in 48 countries is classified. The results show that: the GDP of bilateral countries, the scores of political stability and absence of violence/terrorism of the exporting countries, the degree of openness of the exporting countries, and whether or not they join the WTO, have the positive effects on the export of sporting goods. The distance between the two countries hindered on the export of sporting goods. Among the 48 sample countries in the study, 19 countries have great potential, and China's export to them is far from enough to meet the demand, leaving a large market space. 11 countries are potential pioneers, and China's sports goods trade with them can be further explored to expand export markets; 18 countries are potential re-models, with limited trade potential from China. It is believed that it is necessary to continue to strengthen the positive trade factors, eliminate trade barriers, and cultivate new energy for the growth of sports goods foreign trade with high-quality sports goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing interest of policymakers and academics on non-tariff measures (NTMs) has stimulated a growing literature on their effects on the agri-food trade of African countries. The empirical evidence, however, is ambiguous: some studies suggest that NTMs are trade barriers and others suggest they have a catalyst role for trade. Understanding the drivers of these contrasting effects, and the prevailing one, would allow one to draw important conclusions. We review, through a meta-analytical approach, a set of empirical studies that quantify the effects of NTMs on African agri-food trade. We find a prevalence of the trade-impeding effects. Our results also help explaining differences in NTMs' effects due to methodological and structural heterogeneity. Moreover, the effects of NTMs vary across the types of NTMs and analysed commodities. We conclude by comparing our findings with existing literature and emphasise which research areas deserve further investigation, such as intra-Africa trade or trade effects of technical NTMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to empirically evaluate the effects of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) on trade inflow by constructing augmented trade restrictiveness indices (ATRI) for ASEAN countries and their major trading partners for the year 2016. This study employs econometric estimation to estimate the ad-valorem equivalent (AVE) for NTBs and then uses mathematical calculations to measure the ATRI of the respective countries and sectors. Findings show that the previous calculation of trade restrictiveness indices (TRI) is bias towards large positive values, and the current study has overcome these issues by making some modifications in the formula. Results illustrate that poorer countries had imposed more restricted trade policies. It is obvious that NTBs have a vital role in influencing trade flows as the ATRI recorded on average, 17% higher value when we consider the existence of NTBs. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression supports our hypothesis that an increase in ATRI leads to reduction in imports. Hence, detailed analysis of NTBs is deemed necessary as it shapes the international trade flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International trade is always affected by the frequently occurring trade barriers arising across the world. One such instance is when the US-China trade war formally began on July 6, 2018. Soybean was viewed as an important weapon of the Chinese government to cope with the United States (US) in the trade war, given the huge quantity of soybean imported from the US to China. This study is interested in the possible global and domestic environmental costs of China's demand for soybean caused by the trade barrier and considers the different strategies China could implement. The results showed that a change in international soybean trade would lead to the obvious growth of global environmental costs in the short term due to the soybean surplus in the US and the increased food transportation mileage. If the problem of surplus soybean in the US could be resolved, global environmental costs would decrease in the long term due to the comparative advantages of Brazil and Argentina over the US in regard to some environmental indicators of soybean production. Increasing China's soybean self-sufficiency by replacing existing maize crops with soybean would be the best strategy for improving global and domestic environmental costs. This study provides a research basis for policy-making to replenish the Chinese soybean deficit while considering the effects on the environment, and the findings of this study reveal the following implications: (1) a trade barrier among nations normally increases the global environmental costs of agricultural production in the short term; and (2) a rational crop layout and a sustainable cropping system at the global level would improve the environmental performance of the global agricultural system. • Influence of trade barrier to global environmental cost is analyzed. • Soybean trade affected by US-China trade war is selected as an ideal case. • Trade barrier leads to a growth of global environmental costs in short-term. • Economic war damages the sustainability of global agricultural production. • Replacing maize with soybean would be the best strategy for China and world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses ILO global supply chain job estimates to study the impact on domestic jobs of foreign barriers to trade in goods and services. Empirical analysis largely confirms predictions derived from a theoretical model calibrated to WIOD data for 2000 and 2011. Barriers to trade in manufacturing and services are both found to have a cross‐border impact on jobs in their own sector and spill‐over effects in other sectors, the latter becoming stronger over time. This article shows the labour market consequences of the increased interconnectedness of countries and sectors through global supply chains, which suggests that trade policy can have significant external effects on foreign labour markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest certification plays an important role in the global trade of legal, sustainably harvested timber. There is no accurate definition of how international forest certification systems impact international trade from a global perspective. This paper is intended to evaluate the influence of forest certification on international trade, so that it can provide a scientific basis for the improvement of the international forest certification systems and for the development of relevant forestry industries in different countries. First, the influence of forest certification on international trade of forest products is explained in the economic model; hence, four hypotheses are put forward. Second, to test these hypotheses, we verify the panel data of bilateral trade and forest certification of all forest products among 67 economies from 2009 to 2018 by incorporating forest certifications into the gravity model. Finally, tests by country groups and product groups were further analyzed, respectively. The results show that: (1) The extended Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood (PPML) estimation solves the problem of the heteroscedasticity and zero trade value problems of the gravity model well in the forest industry. (2) Forest certification has an export competitive effect, a trade barrier effect, as well as common language effect. (3) Forest certification has asymmetric trade effects. The export competitive effect of forest certification in developing countries is greater than that in developed countries. Forest certification has become a trade barrier for developing countries, especially in the process of trade with developed countries. The common language effect is higher during the trade between developed and developing countries. The export competitive effect of wood products is higher than that of furniture products. Forest certification has trade barrier effect on wood products in developing countries, while it has trade barrier effect on furniture products in developed countries.