Home  Journals  National Interests: Priorities and Security  4(349) - 2017 April

Fundamentals of foreign trade policy of Russia: Evaluating the possible effect of tariff regulation on import trends

Vol. 13, Iss. 4, APRIL 2017

Article PDF Version

Received: 10 October 2016

Received in revised form: 17 February 2017

Accepted: 7 March 2017

Available online: 3 May 2017

Subject Heading: ECONOMIC POLICY OF THE STATE

JEL Classification: F13, F14

Pages: 631-646

https://doi.org/10.24891/ni.13.4.631

Importance The article analyzes foreign trade policy of Russia in terms of its quality and volumes, its legislative framework, and the extent to which tariff and non-tariff measures are used to regulate foreign trade.
Objectives The research evaluates how tariff regulation influences import trends in Russia, outlines a set of conclusions and recommendations in relation to transformation of foreign trade policy of the nation.
Methods The research relies upon a systems approach involving methods of logic and comparative analysis, qualitative and quantitative analysis of statistical data. The regression analysis underlies our conclusions on the effect of tariff regulation on import.
Results The research helped us to identify key trends in Russia’s foreign trade policy, evaluate the extent to which tariff and non-tariff regulation of foreign trade was used in Russia. As the most significant aspect of the research, we quantified the effect of tariff regulation on trends in import of various commodities, assessed import elasticity coefficients at the average rates of customs duties.
Conclusions and Relevance Russia is keeping on the foreign trade liberalization track, while actively using customs duties and tariffs to regulate import as compared with non-tariff restrictions. Consumer goods demonstrate the highest import elasticity coefficients in terms of the average rate of customs duties. We made our conclusions on the reasonableness of the effective foreign trade policy and provided our recommendations for improving the customs and tariff regulation.

Keywords: customs duties, non-tariff measures, WTO, EAEU, elasticity coefficient

References:

1. Danil'tsev A.V., Zakharov A.V., Medvedkov M.Yu., Trudaeva T.A. Osnovy torgovoi politiki i pravila VTO [Fundamentals of Trade Policy and WTO Policies]. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya Publ., 2005, 448 p.
2. Hoekman B., Kostecki M. The Political Economy of the World Trading System: WTO and Beyond. Oxford University Press, 2009, 740 p.
3. Amirova D.R., Gudkova V.S. [Contemporary specifics of foreign trade of the Russian Federation]. Gumanitarnye nauchnye issledovaniya, 2014, no. 12. (In Russ.) Available at: Link.
4. Grishaeva L.E. [Russia and WTO: A contemporary slowdown mechanism]. Ekonomicheskii zhurnal = Economic Journal, 2011, no. 23, pp. 6–22. (In Russ.)
5. Svinoukhov V.G., Senotrusova S.V., Gorchak M.O. [Customs- and tariff-related issues of introducing the single customs duty of the customs union and Russia’s accession to the WTO]. Rossiiskii vneshneekonomicheskii vestnik = Russian Foreign Economic Bulletin, 2009, no. 12, pp. 47–54. (In Russ.)
6. Isachenko T.M. [Issues arising from the use of State regulation measures in relation to foreign trade at the current stage]. Gosudarstvennyi audit. Pravo. Ekonomika = State Audit. Law. Economics, 2013, no. 3, pp. 15–29. (In Russ.)
7. Bystrov G.M. [Systemic issues of foreign trade policy of Russia]. Aktual'nye problemy ekonomiki i prava = Actual Problems of Economics and Law, 2012, no. 1, pp. 85–91. (In Russ.) doi: 10.21202/1993-047X.06.2012.1.85-91
8. Mikhailushkin P.V. [Foreign trade policy for agricultural food as the fundamental component for food security of Russia]. Politematicheskii setevoi elektronnyi nauchnyi zhurnal Kubanskogo gosudarstvennogo agrarnogo universiteta, 2014, no. 95, pp. 1–17. (In Russ.) Available at: Link.
9. Nikishina V.O. [International practice of trade safeguards as part of preferential trade agreements]. Rossiiskii vneshneekonomicheskii vestnik = Russian Foreign Economic Bulletin, 2011, no. 1, pp. 23–28. (In Russ.)
10. Sereda V.I., Andreyuk N.V. [Contemporary trends in the protectionism practice for foreign trade regulation]. Isvestiya Saratovskogo universiteta. Novaya Seriya. Ser. Ekonomika. Upravleniye. Pravo = Izvestiya of Saratov University. New Series. Series: Economics. Management. Law, 2013, vol. 13, iss. 3-1, pp. 327–333. (In Russ.)
11. Koval' A.G., Trofimenko O.Yu., Sutyrin S.F. [Trade remedies for national producers as part of the WTO]. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Ser. 5. Ekonomika = St. Petersburg University Journal of Economic Studies, 2014, no. 1, pp. 53–70. (In Russ.)
12. Feenstra R.C. Symmetric Pass-Through of Tariffs and Exchange Rates under Imperfect Competition: An Empirical Test. Journal of International Economics, 1989, vol. 27, iss. 1-2, pp. 25–45. doi: Link90076-7
13. Irwin D. Against the Tide: An Intellectual History of Free Trade. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1996.
14. Irwin D. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff: Quantitative Assessment. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 1998, vol. 80, iss. 2, pp. 326–334.
15. Brown D. Tariffs, the Terms of Trade, and National Product Differentiation. Journal of Policy Modeling, 1987, vol. 9, iss. 3, pp. 503–526. doi: Link90027-5
16. Whalley J. Trade Liberalization among Major World Trading Areas. Cambridge, MIT Press, 1985.
17. Santos-Paulino A., Thirlwall A.P. The Impact of Trade Liberalization on Exports, Imports, and the Balance of Payments of Developing Countries. The Economic Journal, 2004, vol. 114, iss. 493, pp. F50–F72. doi: 10.1111/j.0013-0133.2004.00187.x
18. Ju J., Wu Y., Zeng L. The Impact of Trade Liberalization on the Trade Balance in Developing Countries. IMF Staff Papers, 2010, vol. 57, iss. 2, pp. 427–449. doi: 10.1057/imfsp.2009.19
19. Wilson J.S., Mann C.L., Otsuki T. Assessing the Potential Benefit of Trade Facilitation: A Global Perspective. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, 2004, no. 3224.
20. Bertola G., Faini R. Import Demand and Non-Tariff Barriers: The Impact of Trade Liberalization. Journal of Development Economics, 1991, vol. 34, iss. 1-2, pp. 269–286. doi: Link90085-P
21. Khan M.S., Zahler R. Trade and Financial Liberalization Given External Shocks and Inconsistent Domestic Policies. IMF Staff Paper, 1985, vol. 32, iss. 1, pp. 22–55.
22. Krueger A.O. Liberalization Attempts and Consequences, Liberalization, Direction of Bias and Economic Growth. Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development, 1978, vol. 10, pp. 277–300.
23. Greenaway D., Sapsford D. What Does Liberalization Do for Exports and Growth? Review of World Economics, 1994, vol. 130, iss. 1, pp. 157–74. doi: 10.1007/BF02706014
24. Jenkins R. Trade Performance and Export Performance in Bolivia. Development and Change, 1996, vol. 27, iss. 4, pp. 693–716. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7660.1996.tb00608.x
25. Bobyreva E.V., Shatunova A.R. [Foreign trade policy of Russia as an economic security factor]. Molodoi uchenyi = Young Scientist, 2015, no. 22, pp. 353–355. (In Russ.)
26. Arapova E.Ya. [Russia – East Asia: What is the WTO to expect from?]. ETAP: Ekonomicheskaya teoriya, Analiz, Praktika = ETAP: Economic Theory, Analysis, Practice, 2012, no. 5, pp. 44–54. (In Russ.)

View all articles of issue

ISSN 2311-875X (Online)
ISSN 2073-2872 (Print)

Journal current issue

Vol. 20, Iss. 4 April 2024

Archive