Technical measures to trade and their impacts on Brazilian agricultural imports

Abstract

International trade is beneficial to countries due to the diverse benefits conveyed such as being a source of financial resources and promoting a broad variety and availability of products to consumers. Despite this, some nations aim at protecting their producers through tariff and non-tariff measures. Brazil, despite being competitive in the agricultural sector, may be doing as such. To evaluate the effect of technical barriers to trade (TBT) on Brazilian agricultural imports, a gravity equation was estimated. Results showed that measures that alter the products features contituted trade barriers, so they had a negative impact on trade. Although these measures constitute barriers, they also bring benefits: products with higher quality, safety and standardization for consumers. Therefore, the TBT agreement is important to avoid unnecessary constraints to trade, besides providing more transparency

Keywords

• tbt agreement
• gravity model
• international trade