The Impact Of CAFTA Tariff Concession On The Quality Of China’s Imports From ASEAN

Actively promoting the negotiation of Free Trade Agreements and the implementation of the Free Trade Zone strategy have become an important part of China’s opening-up strategy.CAFTA is the first FTA signed by China,and ASEAN has become China’s largest trading partner in 2020.At the same time,China,as a responsible power,continuously promotes the construction of "China-ASEAN Community of Shared Future",gives full play to its own economic advantages,and strengthens economic communication with ASEAN countries.The product quality of ASEAN member states has been improved,and it has a positive effect on the adjustment of the economic structure of ASEAN member states.Under this background,this paper will examine the theoretical mechanism of the impact of tariff concession in Free Trade Agreements on the quality of imported products,empirically analyzes the impact of CAFTA tariff concession on the quality of China’s imports from ASEAN and the path of action.In order to provide decision-making basis for China to improve the quality of imported products and achieve win-win development.The research has important theoretical and practical significance.This paper firstly reveals the impact mechanism of tariff concessions in free trade agreements on the quality of imported products.Then,the relative preference of China’s tariff concessions to ASEAN and the quality of China’s imported products from ASEAN are measured around the overall dimension,country dimension and product type.Next,this paper regarding the "China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement" strategy as a public policy experiment,using the PSM-DID method to empirically test the impact of CAFTA tariff concession on the quality of China’s imports from ASEAN,analyzing the effect of heterogeneity in the category of SITC subdivided products,and further through the mediation effect model,verify the existence of mechanisms that CAFTA tariff concession affect product quality through income effect,competition effect and substitution effect,explore the existence of heterogeneity in the SITC subdivided product grouping sample.And on this basis,put forward relevant policy recommendations.The research conclusions show that: Firstly,theoretical analysis shows that the tariff concession of free trade agreements promotes the quality improvement of imported products through the income effect and competition effect,and inhibits the quality improvement of imported products through the substitution effect.Secondly,compared with the new ASEAN members,China has more preferential tariff concessions to the six ASEAN countries,and the quality of imported products is also higher.Thirdly,from the full-sample regression results,the CAFTA tariff concession has significantly improved the quality of China’s imports from ASEAN.Fourthly,from the results of the product sample and the results of the mediation effect test,CAFTA tariff concession promote resource-intensive products(except SITC-3)mainly through income effects;for the import quality of technology-intensive products,the promotion effect of CAFTA tariff concession through the competition effect is greater than the inhibitory effect through the substitution effect,and the final performance is that the CAFTA tariff concession significantly promotes the import quality of these types of products;CAFTA tariff concession inhibit the import quality of labor-intensive products mainly through substitution effects;CAFTA tariff concession inhibit the import quality of fossil fuels,lubricants and related raw materials(SITC-3),but does not meet the mediating effect.Based on the above conclusions,this paper puts forward the following policy recommendations: Firstly,targetedly increase China’s relative preferential tariff concessions for various products of ASEAN countries.Secondly,actively promote the implementation of the import expansion policy,increase the China’s imports trade of resource-intensive products from ASEAN countries,give full play to the income effect,and increase export revenue of ASEAN countries;Thirdly,accelerate the construction of a unified national market,give full play to the competitive effect of technologyintensive products,and force ASEAN countries to improve product quality;Fourthly,appropriately improve the import quality audit standards for technology-intensive and labor-intensive products,and avoid ASEAN countries replacing quality competition with low-price competition.