Exports from developing countries continue to face a variety of specific challenges, ranging from tariff escalation, preference erosion and non-tariff barriers to price volatility. While previous rounds of trade negotiations have led to some progress in reducing trade barriers for tropical products, significant obstacles still remain.
ICTSD’s research and dialogues in this area seek to promote greater convergence between the negotiating positions of countries that would benefit from liberalisation and those that currently benefit from trade preferences. Increasingly, the project is also exploring more broadly the nature of the challenges facing the major export sectors in developing countries.
Recent research includes analysis of how the draft trade deal under consideration at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) would affect cotton, bananas and sugar; how a composite index of market access could be developed; analysis of market access for ’sensitive products’; and information notes on tariff peaks and tropical product liberalisation.
For a full list of ICTSD publications on tropical products, preference erosion and related issues, please click here.