Foreign trade instrument
Foreign trade instruments are the entirety of all government regulatory measures within the framework of foreign trade policy that aim to improve or hinder export and / or import . Foreign trade instruments are also used to achieve economic, social or environmental goals. The aim of any foreign trade instrument is either to expand foreign trade or to reduce it.
General
Foreign trade instruments promote or restrict free trade . They primarily serve to protect the domestic economy through restrictive import policies and, conversely, to promote the domestic economy through expansive export policies. State protectionism is expressed in the use of foreign trade instruments . Foreign trade instruments are regulatory measures as they exert a direct influence on the activities of importers and exporters. If a state wants to make use of foreign trade instruments, it uses its legislative competence to implement them. The main areas of law for the use of foreign trade instruments are foreign trade law ( foreign trade law , foreign trade ordinance ) and parts of tax law . Foreign trade instruments generally do not represent a fundamental deviation from the spirit of the GATT , because in case of doubt the protective motive takes precedence over the regulatory principle of free trade. However, foreign trade instruments are planned as a restriction on free trade.
System of foreign trade instruments
Natural trade barriers (such as language barriers, costs and risks of transportation) are not among the protectionist measures. Rather, what is required is that the state engages in discriminatory activities in foreign trade. A distinction must be made here between tariff and non-tariff trade barriers . Customs and taxes are tariff, the rest are non-tariff barriers.
Instruments that influence prices
Customs duties - mostly import duties - are tariff barriers to trade that increase the import price and thus make imports difficult or even impossible. Depending on the source of the survey, there are import, transit or export duties. Internationally, the GATT agreement is relevant for the customs level. From an economic point of view, customs curtail free trade, but lead to government revenues (customs revenues).
In the case of import or export subsidies, the state bears costs that the domestic importer or exporter would actually have to bear, for example in the form of tax breaks. If higher taxes are levied on imports of certain product groups than on others (such as a luxury tax on imported cars), there is also a tariff-based trade barrier. An import subsidy is a state subsidy for the import of a good . From the EU point of view, this also includes the assumption of losses by the European institution that arise when state trading and storage centers purchase goods from non-resident units and sell them to resident units at lower prices. An import subsidy brings about a reduction in the domestic price compared to the world market price , similar to an export duty . Export subsidies are more common (see export refunds ). Sometimes they are sharply criticized (cf. agricultural dumping ). Compared to tariffs, subsidies are more expensive, as their implementation not only eliminates the tariff revenue, but also creates additional costs (in the form of the subsidy).
Volume regulation
Import quotas and quotas ( foreign trade quota ) are the direct limitation of the possible import volume, for example through import licenses that are subject to fees. In extreme cases, import bans are imposed. The exchange controls makes the import of goods from a foreign exchange authorization, because the importer state wants to control the outflow of scarce foreign exchange holdings. Export or import permits ( import quotas ) or the restriction or prohibition of certain groups of goods ( arms exports ) are also among the discriminatory trade barriers.
Export credits
If the state or its institutions ( state bank ) grants the exporter loans for the production of export goods on favorable terms (interest, term, security), this promotes export. The export credit insurance is one here, since these exports in countries with higher political and / or economic risks ( country rating allows) that would not take place without insurance. The guarantee by the Republic of Austria on bills of exchange is one such export-promoting, non-tariff measure. The granting of a swing with a foreign exchange weak state enables it to carry out imports that are partially offset by its own exports within the framework of a - mostly non-interest-bearing - credit line , but a deficit balance (the import surplus) remains that has to be offset again later.
Other non-tariff barriers to trade
Regulations on procedural or legal hindrances to the processing of commercial transactions (technical minimum standards, harassment during customs clearance, labeling requirement for imports: Made in Germany was planned as a trade barrier) are non-tariff barriers. Even health standards , environmental standards or purity law for German beer are among this area, even if they primarily serve other purposes and do not realize are intended as a foreign trade instrument.
So-called local content clauses are state regulations, according to which a certain proportion of the value of the product must have been produced domestically in order to sell a good domestically. The aim of a local content clause is usually to accumulate know-how for the production of a good domestically or to involve the local economy in the production process.
In the context of national procurement, the state buys the goods it needs from domestic suppliers (even if there are better or cheaper foreign products) in order to promote the domestic economy. He may encourage his citizens and industry to do the same ( Buy British ). The EU is countering this system of national procurement, for example, by obliging itself to tender .
As part of harassing measures , a state prevents or hampers the import of foreign goods through all possible measures that have not yet been mentioned; in particular through long approval procedures, restrictive health and environmental regulations or long-lasting controls.
Foreign trade policy
Foreign trade instruments are part of a state's foreign trade policy. They represent targeted trade barriers , from the implementation of which the economic and political intentions of a state can be derived. In this context, the WTO and GATT aim to weaken or even forbid the foreign trade instruments available to the states in favor of free trade.
Individual evidence
- ^ Jürgen Neyer: Games without borders , 1996, p. 19.
- ↑ Daniela Eschlbeck: International Economics: conditions, actors, spatial relationships , 2006, p 62nd
- ↑ Daniela Eschlbeck: International Economics: conditions, actors, spatial relationships , 2006, p 63
- ^ Import subsidy. Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon, 2011.
- ↑ circa.europa.eu ( Memento from June 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Herbert Sperber, Joachim Sprink: Internationale Wirtschaft und Finanz , 2007, p. 16 ff.