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International Trade
Barriers to Trade
Economics Textbooks Boundless Economics International Trade Barriers to Trade
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Concept Version 5
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Other Barriers

Barriers to trade include specific limitations to trade, customs procedures, governmental participation, and technical barriers to trade.

Learning Objective

  • Distinguish different barriers to trade


Key Points

    • Specific limitations to trade barriers include local content requirements and embargoes. This category of barriers comes from trade regulations.
    • Customs and administrative procedure barriers include bureaucratic red tape and anti-dumping practices. This category of barriers comes from government procedures.
    • Governmental participation barriers include government procurement programs, export subsidies, and countervailing duties. This category of barriers involves the direct participation of government in trade.
    • Technical barriers to trade include sanitary regulations, measurement and labeling standards, and ingredient standards. This category of barriers involves health, safety, and measurement standards.

Terms

  • countervailing duty

    A tax levied on an imported article to offset the unfair price advantage it holds due to a subsidy paid to producers or exporters by the government of the exporting country if such imports cause or threaten injury to a domestic industry.

  • embargo

    A ban on trade with another country.

  • Dumping

    Selling goods at less than their normal price, especially in the export market.


Full Text

In addition to tariffs and quotas, other barriers to trade exist. They can be divided into four separate categories: specific limitations to trade, customs and administrative procedures, government participation, and technical barriers to trade.

Specific Limitations to Trade

This category of trade barriers stems from regulations on international trade. Some examples include:

  • Local content requirements, or domestic content requirements, are rules that mandate how much of a product must be produced domestically in order to qualify for lowered tariffs or other preferential treatment.
  • Embargoes are prohibitions on trade ban imports or exports, and may apply to certain categories of products, or strictly to goods supplied by certain countries .

Customs and Administrative Procedures

This category of trade barriers refers to trade impediments that stem from governmental procedures and controls. Some examples include:

  • Bureaucratic delays: Delays at ports or other country entrances caused by administrative or bureaucratic red-tape increase uncertainty and the cost of maintaining inventory.
  • Anti-dumping duties: In international trade, dumping refers to a form of predatory pricing in which exported products are priced below the cost of production or below the price charged in the home market. Anti-dumping duties are usually extra taxes levied on the product to neutralize the predatory pricing and bring the price closer to the "normal value. "

Government Participation

This category of trade barriers represents direct governmental involvement in international trade. Some examples include:

  • Government procurement programs: Public authorities, such as government agencies, are much like private interests in that they must also buy goods and services. Unlike private interests, governments are more likely to buy domestically produced goods and services, rather than the lowest-cost commodities. Because government procurement often represent a significant portion of a country's GDP, foreign suppliers are at a disadvantage to domestic ones when it comes to these programs.
  • Export subsidies: Export subsidies are production subsidies granted to exported products, usually by a government. With export subsidies, domestic producers can sell their commodities in foreign markets below cost, which makes them more competitive.
  • Countervailing duties: Countervailing duties, or anti-subsidy duties, are extra duties levied on imports in order to neutralize an export subsidy. If a country discovers that a foreign country subsidizes its exports, and domestic producers are injured as a result, a countervailing duty can be imposed in order to reduce the export subsidy advantage. In that respect, countervailing duties are similar to anti-dumping duties in that they both bring a imported product's value closer to the "normal value. "

Technical Barriers to Trade

Technical barriers to trade are non-tariff barriers to trade that refer to standards implemented by countries. Because these standards must be met before goods are allowed to enter or leave a country, they represent international trade barriers. Some examples include:

  • Sanitary and phytosanitary measures: These are health standards for plants, animals, and other products, and are designed to protect humans, animals, and plants from pests or diseases.
  • Rules for product weights, sizes, or packaging.
  • Standards for labeling and testing products.
  • Ingredient or identity standards.
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