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Two-way trade flows between Africa and China have increased rapidly between 2001 and 2010. Mauritius being a resource-scarce economy has been no stranger to the “China phenomenon”. China is the third largest supplier to the Mauritian market but will soon be competing for first place. Exports to China, on the other hand, have remained marginal. The paper aims to examine the potential impacts of China's spectacular rise on the Mauritian economy through the trade channel.

The paper draws extensively on secondary data to explain the low export penetration of Mauritian goods on Chinese markets and to examine the impact of Chinese dominance of the global apparel market on Mauritius' clothing exports to third markets. The paper first considers several potential explanations for Mauritius' low levels of exports to China, which are: Mauritius' exports are not competitive enough to penetrate the Chinese market; China does not need to import from Mauritius since it produces all that Mauritius exports; and the Chinese market is relatively closed to Mauritian exports due to high tariffs and other non-tariff barriers. The paper investigates each of the above hypotheses using secondary data from UN COMTRADE. The paper computes a set of revealed comparative advantage (RCA) indices for Mauritius and China and shows how they have evolved over time. Given the inherent shortcoming of the RCA measure, the paper provides a complementary assessment based on an analysis of cost competitiveness factors. The Export Similarity Index and the Trade Complementarity Index are also computed to test the above hypotheses. Second, using disaggregated data on clothing exports from UN COMTRADE, the paper analyses the product categories where Chinese competition has been most acute.

In conclusion, the whole body of evidence presented in this study points to bleak prospects for Mauritian exporters to enter the Chinese market in a significant manner. Worse, because most of the causes of this low export penetration are due to systemic factors – such as a lack of trade complementarity, poor export competitiveness, export market bias and an irrational fear of doing business in China – the current situation is unlikely to improve in the future in the absence of bold policy measures.

This is the first study looking at the trade relationship between Mauritius and China.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potentials and barriers to trade in the Malaysia–Chile partnership.

This paper estimates two-way export potentials from an augmented three-dimensional panel gravity model of bilateral trade between Malaysia and the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, spanning the 1990–2014 period. Utilizing interviews with government officials and industry experts in Malaysia and Chile, this paper also provides insights into market access issues.

The empirical findings of this study suggest that Malaysia has trade potential in Chile, but Chile is “overtrading” with Malaysia. By major products traded, both countries are found to be “overtrading,” as the export basket remains concentrated in this partnership. Through the interviews, fewer restrictions are reported by the various stakeholders, as the extent of trade engagement remains somewhat low. The main challenge identified within specific sectors in both the countries relates mainly to procedures established to secure compliance with labeling regulations for food products.

The sectoral findings reveal that there is indeed scope for expanding exports beyond the current major products traded, particularly in base metal and scientific and measuring equipment from the Malaysia and Chile perspectives, respectively. Thus, product diversification matters to intensify trade cooperation between the two countries. Non-tariff measures need to be streamlined by both parties to ensure further product diversification to food trade, particularly for Chile.

The limited literature on cross-regional trade within the broader framework of Southeast Asia and LAC only support the fact that potentials do exist but do not appear to provide much research evidence. Empirically, this paper will add to the existing literature on the potentials that hold in the Malaysia–Chile partnership. Further, a lack of adequate information remains on market access and other barriers in both the nations to facilitate decisions on trade opportunities. The findings of the study fill that vacuum of information pertaining to market access and trade facilitation through interviews with various stakeholders in Malaysia and Chile.

The purpose of this study is to discuss the progress and challenges of South Asia in trade liberalization and facilitation, and to quantitatively demonstrate the potential benefits of trade facilitation in South Asia.

The quantitative study simulates the trade gains to the region based on the gravity model estimation for 101 world countries.

The gains to the region are estimated to be $31 billion in 2007 and $26 billion in 2010 if South Asia and the “rest of the world” raised levels of trade facilitation halfway to the world average. Of those trade gains, about 80 per cent (in 2007) and 67 per cent (in 2010) of the total gains to South Asia will be generated from South Asia's own efforts.

Thus this study demonstrates the importance of trade facilitation as an instrument for expansion of trade both within South Asia and with the rest of the world, as well as policy recommendations regarding the priority area for reform.

South Asia is a region urgently seeking development, although it has failed in regional integration. It is the second least integrated region regarding the number of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and can thus be recognised as a missing bloc in the global multilateral system. This study aims to focus on South Asian FTAs and explores the problems of the inter-relations and compatibility between the systemic and regional trade systems.

The study proposes a framework to benchmark the compatibility of South Asian FTAs with WTO rules. Primary data from 2000 to 2020, including descriptive analyses of reports, legal text of the FTAs, official documents and factual presentations, have been collected and analysed through thematic analysis using the proposed framework.

The study finds that, although South Asian FTAs meet most of the WTO requirements, they are not progressing toward facilitating and promoting trade. Data from 2000 to 2020 show us that South Asian FTAs have not significantly impacted trade between themselves. The study argues that, although South Asian FTAs fulfil some benchmarks, they show only a lukewarm interest in contributing to the international trading system as building blocs. It is therefore recommended that the case of South Asian trade liberalisation must be understood contextually and be given careful and exclusive attention by the WTO.

As such, this study is the first to claim that South Asian FTAs are not fully compatible with the WTO rules. They remain a missing regional bloc in the multilateral system, rather than a building bloc or a stumbling bloc, delaying the region’s opportunity to develop as a region and within the larger system.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate by text and empirical facts, the need to reform the rules in force.

This study confronts current standards with empirical facts. To do this, it is postulated that even though current market access standards are better that the Gatt 1947 rules, they leave the possibility for some members to hijack them to eventually increase their protection effective tariff.

Market access standards for agricultural products should be reformed because of their asymmetry. To put an end to this asymmetry, these standards should be rebalanced. This is precisely the challenge of the current multilateral negotiations.

Unlike the studies conducted on this subject (to my knowledge), which are mainly based on economic or political science methods, this analysis is essentially based on legal reasoning law.

The EC has declared its intention to complete the Single Internal Market by the end of 1992. This will have an impact throughout European industry. The food industry was highlighted as subject to profound changes in legislative control over the next few years.

This paper aims to propose a procedure to remove international trade barriers globally. Trade is confronting various barriers in the present world, and this is due to the policies of governments to protect interests of their own citizens. Experience shows that trade barriers end up with incurring losses for both sides (traders) in practice, but a look at history of polemics on trade barriers removal in World Trade Organization (WTO) shows that countries are unable to overcome the obstacles they have created. Trade partners understand that removal of counter barriers is advantageous for both parties. In the meantime, being concerned of other party’s response impedes the benefits of free trade for all parties.

This proposition is based upon Islamic Sufism teachings. The propounded principles and goals are in accordance with high understanding of social and economic subtleties of humankind’s life. The authors try to form and formalize Islamic Sufi teachings to establish a base for compiling new international convention that facilitates international trade in all aspects.

To facilitate and promote international trade relations in short run, interested countries may accept a convention to remove all trade barriers among themselves all at once.

The proposed convention does not go against General Agreement on Tariff and Trade and WTO, but it is complementary to both.

The proposed principles are actually shortcuts to what WTO may access in far futures.

Islamic Sufism teachings can lead us to solve current international problems.

WTO has taken important steps to facilitate international trade. To reach the main goal of trade liberalization of WTO, a shortcut solution is proposed here.

Free trade agreements have been employed, either unilaterally or as a bloc, as an instrument to overcome the inefficiencies in trade brought about by the prevailing barriers and regulatory measures. During the tenth summit the leaders of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to integrate their priority sectors with a vision to developing an ASEAN economic community whereby there would be a free flow of goods, services, investment and a freer flow of capital, equitable economic development, and reduced poverty and socio‐economic disparities. This market would have no price discrimination for commodities and against foreign goods, services, capital and labor. The purpose of this paper is to assess the current state of the cross‐border trade in logistics services among ASEAN. The extent of the ease of cross‐border trade is measured in terms of trade friendliness. The trade friendliness is a measure of the openness of ASEAN towards conducting free cross‐border trade.

This study uses a series of semi‐structured interviews with 35 logistics and related firms operating in ASEAN.

It was found that the unwieldy customs procedures and inspections, lack of coordination, and arbitrary rulings are some barriers to freer cross‐border trade within ASEAN.

In this paper, the authors have identified several barriers that influence logistics services across ASEAN. ASEAN must address these barriers before any further attempt of freer trade can be made.

Studies have been conducted for the USA and Europe but not for the Asia‐Pacific. The Asia‐Pacific is a growing region for global trade and therefore assessing the trade openness or friendliness in the logistics sector is useful for taking further policy initiatives for developing an ASEAN economic community.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an ex post econometric examination of SPS measures and their influences on red meat trade.

The authors conduct multiple new assessments to further assess the particular effects of specific SPS measures related to animal health, human health and maximum residue limits on red meat trade values. This finer assessment provides updated and more detailed insights into the marginal trade impacts of different SPS measures.

The current study sheds important light on the determinants of red meat trade. The economic conditions of destination countries and production capability of suppliers are key to determining trade values. Factors including personal income and exporters’ meat supply are identified as trade facilitators. Since the restrictiveness of SPS measures vary across beef and pork sectors, maintaining commodity-specific SPS measures is essential for accurate assessment of trade determinants.

This paper provides multiple contributions to the existing literature and more broadly the authors’ economic understanding on the increasingly contentious issue of global meat trade. Combined, this study yields several implications for food policy, trade negotiators and industry leaders given the growing role and surrounding controversies of trade in meat and livestock markets around the world. The authors further believe the paper would be of notable interest to fellow researchers consistent with the existence of a sizable published literature and ongoing debates in international meat trade.

Since its development by Tinbergen (1962), the gravity model of international trade has widely been applied to analyse the effect of various factors on trade relationships between countries. Past studies on trade gravity vary not only in the mix of model variables but also in how they have come into the analysis. This study reviews existing literature on bilateral trade with an aim to identify influential predictors such as changes of trade policy and national development strategy and highlight important yet understudied factors such as transport and logistics infrastructure, and sustainable development. To demonstrate the needs to examine these critical factors across industry sectors, the study presents the case of textiles and clothing (T&C) production and trade between China and its trading partners as an illustration. Through the literature review, it shows how the gravity model can be applied to address current issues in international trade arena such as the potential trade war between the US and China, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and other important factors shaping global T&C trade. This study offers future research directions for analysis of global trade in the T&C industry and contributes to the wider literature of international business and trade.