Politics of trade protection in an autocracy: Evidence from an EU tariff liberalization in Morocco

Paving the Road to Global Markets

“…This is especially the case for SMEs. Compared to their large counterparts, SMEs, with limited resources and capacity, face more challenges in accessing information about, and complying with diverse and rapidly evolving technical requirements, which may impede their growth in the global market (Ruckteschler et al, 2022;USTR, 2013).…”

“…However, selling to foreign markets can be challenging, especially for SMEs. While tariff barriers have drastically reduced around the world, nontariff barriers such as technical regulations, product standards, and certification requirements have emerged as the dominant components of trade barriers imposing significant costs to businesses (Ruckteschler et al, 2022). These standards-related barriers, known as technical barriers to trade (TBT), play an increasing role in shaping the flow of international trade.…”

Trade Liberalization, IMF Conditionality, and Policy Substitution in Developing Countries

“…Kuenzel (2020, 2023) shows, for example, that reducing the tariff overhang, that is, the policy space between the committed MFN bound to the WTO and applied MFN tariff rates, increases the incident of NTMs. Ruckteschler et al (2022) use a difference‐in‐difference framework to show that tariff cuts induced by the EU‐Morocco trade agreement were compensated with the introduction of NTMs. This was explicitly found true for politically connected sectors in Morocco.…”

“…Studies examined, for example, the effects of economic crises (Ballard-Rosa et al, 2018;Drazen & Easterly, 2001;Falvey et al, 2012;Pitlik & Wirth, 2003), the spread of policy ideas (Biersteker, 1995;Krueger, 1997;Weymouth & Macpherson, 2012), and democracy on trade flows and trade policies (Barari & Kim, 2022;Mansfield et al, 2000;Milner & Kubota, 2005). A long strand of the literature investigated the effects of external pressures on a country's trade policy that could stem from GATT/WTO 3 membership (Allee & Scalera, 2012;Chang & Lee, 2011;Esteve-Pérez et al, 2020;Rose, 2004;Subramanian & Wei, 2007;Tomz et al, 2007), international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (e.g., Boockmann & Dreher, 2003) or tariff commitments in bilateral or regional trade agreements (Hayakawa & Kimura, 2015;Ruckteschler et al, 2022;WTO, 2011). 4 While these external factors may impact especially tariff protection, some evidence is also found for substitution mechanisms in the face of a limited policy space through tariff liberalization.…”