Non-tariff barriers: a multi-billion dollar burden

Better market access benefits Australia’s exporters and supports market diversification goals. Australian agricultural exporters are long term beneficiaries of the removal of trade barriers globally through World Trade Organization mechanisms and Australia’s free trade agreements. As average applied tariffs on Australian exports fell in recent decades, the number of non-tariff barriers rose, raising concerns that tariffs are being replaced by protectionist non-tariff barriers. New modelling shows that these non-tariff barriers, sometimes referred to as technical market access barriers, are equivalent to a 19% tariff, and are a billion dollar burden on Australian agricultural exports, and warrant concerted and strong efforts to combat their rise.