South Africa’s International Trade

This chapter uses South Africa’s integration in the global economy as a lens to understand the dynamics behind South Africa’s current economic performance. It first presents the historical context, commencing from the country’s position as a gold exporter pursuing an import substitution industrialization strategy, to its transition to a more open economy with the ending of sanctions and tariff liberalization from the early 1990s. The focus then shifts to a critical assessment of South Africa’s trade performance and trade policy in the post-apartheid period. This covers the impact of government policies, such as the multilateral tariff liberalization from 1994 to 2000, preferential tariff reform from 2000 and sector-driven industrial policy from 2007, as well as the dramatic changes in the global trading order—the rise of China from 2001, and the emergence of global value chains. To illustrate these relationships, the chapter draws on new insights using disaggregated product- and firm-level trade data.

Influence of Tariff Liberalization on Bilateral Trade

The study aims at evaluating and comparing trade effects of tariff liberalization on bilateral trade between Russian and its Asian trade partners: China, India, Thailand and Vietnam. The partial equilibrium model - the Software for Market Analysis and Restrictions on Trade (SMART) model - underlies the research methodology. The authors calculate the trade effects of 1% linear cut of customs duties imposed on key commodity groups of mutual import flows and identify elasticities of bilateral import of different commodity groups on customs duties. On the basis of a comparative analysis of the results obtained, the authors formulated a set of conclusions regarding the efficiency of tariff regulation of imports in different countries and industrial sectors, tracking the changes of the influence of tariff liberalization on the dynamics of import of various categories of goods (depending on the value added and technological effectiveness).

Economic Effects of Tariff Liberalization of Prospective India-GCC FTA: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis

The trade relations between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have been intensified during the last two decades. The GCC has emerged as one of the largest trading partner of India. This article attempts to investigate the result of tariff liberalization on welfare, output, employment and the potential trade flows between India and the GCC region using the GTAP-model. The study reveals that tariff liberalization has positive effects on India and GCC countries, with no or nominal negative effect on the rest of the world. Overall results show that India’s trade relation with GCC countries is increasing continuously, but still there is a lot of untapped potential to bring the welfare gains for both trading partners. Finally, the study concludes that the proposed economic integration in terms of FTA between India and GCC will be mutually beneficial and welfare enhancing, and a case of a win–win situation. JEL Codes: F1, F13, F14, F17