A Study On The Impact Of Technical Barriers On China’s Agricultural Products Export

Technical Barriers to Trade(TBT) sprung up in 1980’s and got popular over the world for its invisibility, flexibility and apparently rationality, under the system of GATT and WTO. To protect domestic industries, developed countries with high technical level are more inclined to take TBT measures to limit imported goods from other countries, especially in the trading field of Agricultural products where trade protectionism prevails. Agriculture is a big and traditional property in China, and the trade of agricultural products is playing an important role in China’s international trade every year. However, China’s trade of agricultural products is gradually experiencing a deficit since 2004. At the same time, the trade frictions caused by technical barriers also arise among countries. Technical barriers have affected China’s export of agricultural goods and become an important issue needed to pay attention.Firstly, this paper theoretically defines and analyzes technical barriers to trade from its conception, main characters, forms as well as causes. By deeply studying its working mechanism, this paper shows how TBT makes its influence on exporter’s economy. Secondly, combining the present export situation with main technical barriers implemented by foreign countries, this paper qualitatively analyzes the impact of foreign TBT measures on China’s export of agricultural products. Thirdly, based on the panel export data to USA, Japan and EU from 2002 to 2013, this paper introduces a virtual variable and set up a trade gravity model to find out the relationship between them. The empirical study reveals that the GDP of China, USA, Japan and EU separately have a positive impact on the export of China’s agricultural goods. While with the implementation of TBTs from these countries as well as the appreciation of RMB, China’s agricultural products export has suffered a negative effect. The whole export amount will go down by 0.33% each time when big changes happen in technical standards, and fall by 0.72% as the exchange rate grows by 1%.Coming to the last chapter, this paper brings up its countermeasures and tackles when facing foreign technical barriers according to both the qualitatively and empirical studies, including consummating the system of agricultural products standards, setting up precautions and fast-reflection mechanism with the industry, regulating and amplify the third-party inspection certification bodies, diversifying exporting markets, and also positively asking WTO dispute settlement mechanism for help when necessary.