Research On The Impact Of Technical Barriers To Trade On The Export Of China's Mobile Phone Products

In recent years,WTO rules have restricted the use of tariff barriers and traditional non-tariff barriers.To restrict imports and protect domestic industries,countries have turned to use a more concealed and directed trade barrier:technical barriers to trade,which is also permitted by WTO rules.Mobile phone products are a kind of high-tech products.Due to the differences in technical standards of various countries,the mobile phone product is more likely to be limited by technical barriers to trade.China has become the largest exporter of mobile phone products,so it is meaningful to explore the characteristics of mobile phone product's export and the impact of technical barriers to trade on it.Applying the TBT(technical barriers to trade)notification and CEPII BACI database,we decompose the ternary margin of China's mobile phone product export,and explore the impact of technical barriers to trade on them.Some findings emerge that:(i)The export value of China's mobile phone products has grown rapidly,and China has become the largest exporter of mobile phone product over the world.However,the growth of export mainly achieves through the increase in export volume.The increase in price has little contribution to the growth of export value.Therefore,China's mobile phone producers and exporters should improve the quality and added value of their products,to achieve price improvement.Second,technical barriers to trade have no significant impact on the extensive margin of China's mobile phone product export but have a significant negative effect the quantity margin,and significant positive impact on price margin,indicating that they do not affect the entry of export markets,but inhibit the export growth through quantitative expansion.At the same time,technical barriers to trade have a "compulsive effect",which means that they promote firms to upgrade their technology and regulate their production,and increase the export price.We apply the instrumental variable method and alternative variables to re-estimate the impact of technical barriers to trade,and the results are still robust.Third,we divide our sample into OECD countries group and non-OECD countries,finding that technical barriers to trade have a higher impact on price margin and quantity margin in OECD countries.Finally,based on the findings in our research,we put forward some policy recommendations which may have implications by both policymakers and firms managers to reduce the impact of technical barriers of trade and realize the further growth of China's mobile phone product export.