Non-tariff measures

Non-tariff measures (NTMs) are becoming more and more relevant in their influence on global trade patterns as the reductions in tariff rates over several rounds of multilateral tariff negotiations have diminished the impact of tariffs. The vast range of NTMs and their potential complexity make it sometimes very difficult to get a good overview of their existence and application. Following the brief introduction to this classification, statistical information on the incidence of three well known and well defined NTMs is presented. These three measures, anti-dumping, countervailing duties and safeguard measures are actually “tariff-like” measures, in that they act via a tariff rate or price surcharge.