Research On The Impact Of Trade Facilitation On China’s Export Of Machinery And Transportation Equipment

In recent years,the forms of multilateral trade cooperation have become plentiful,and many countries increasingly attach importance to trade liberalization and actively participate in the construction of the multilateral trading system.Compared to reducing the tariff rate of goods,there is more room to reduce non-tariff barriers,and the advantages and importance of trade facilitation are highlighted.At the same time,China’s export trade of mechanical transportation equipment has developed rapidly,driving stable economic growth.In the field of mechanical transportation equipment,China is the world’s largest exporter with a wide range of exports.Considering the importance of the machinery manufacturing industry in the national economy,it is of practical significance to explore the impact of trade facilitation on the export of China’s machinery and transportation equipment products.The research contains five parts.Firstly,on the basis of research by domestic and foreign scholars,this thesis summarizes relevant literature on the concept and measurement methods of trade facilitation,as well as research on the impact of trade facilitation on different industries,laying a foundation for empirical research in the following thesis.Secondly,based on free trade theory and transaction cost theory,this thesis discusses the impact mechanism of trade facilitation on China’s machinery and transportation equipment exports.Research has found that trade facilitation can promote the export of machinery and transportation equipment in China by reducing transaction costs and improving trade efficiency.Thirdly,the thesis constructs a measurement system to measure the true trade facilitation level of countries,including four primary indicators and 16 secondary indicators.The data for indicators at all levels are derived from databases such as the Global Competitiveness Report,Transparency International,and the World Bank.The principal component analysis method is used to quantify the level of trade facilitation between China and 39 major trading partner countries from 2008 to 2019.Meanwhile,based on the export data from the United Nations Commodity Trade Database,the thesis analyzes the current export situation of mechanical transportation equipment in China from two dimensions: export country and commodity structure.Fourthly,by constructing a trade gravity model,this thesis empirically studies the impact of trade facilitation levels of trading partner countries on China’s machinery and transportation equipment exports.On this basis,this part also conducted endogenous testing,robustness testing,and heterogeneity analysis.Fifthly,based on the empirical research results,the main conclusions are drawn,and policy recommendations are proposed to optimize the level of trade facilitation in various countries.Four conclusions are drawn.First of all,China’s export of mechanical transportation products has grown rapidly,with the 84 th category of products(nuclear reactors,boilers,mechanical appliances,electrical equipment and their components,etc.)and the 85 th category of products(tape recorders,sound players,television images,etc.)being the most important exports of China.The export range of machinery and transportation products is broad,involving countries on different continents,and presenting a highly concentrated feature of exporting countries.Secondly,based on the measured trade facilitation scores,the study found that the degree of trade facilitation in Asia is generally lower than in Europe and the United States.Over the past decade,the degree of trade facilitation in most countries has increased by varying degrees.Thirdly,optimizing the trade facilitation conditions of both importing and exporting countries is conducive to expanding China’s export of machinery and transportation equipment.From the perspective of trade facilitation indicators of trading partner countries,the promotion effects of the four sub indicators are decreasing in order,namely,customs environment,financial market and e-commerce,infrastructure conditions,institutional environment,and government policies.Among the six subcategories of machinery and transportation equipment,except for the 89 th category of products(ships and floating structures),expanding exports in the remaining five subcategories is significantly positively correlated with improving the trade facilitation of importing and exporting countries.Fourthly,there is significant heterogeneity in the promotion of trade facilitation by trading partner countries on China’s machinery and transportation equipment exports.As far as importing countries are concerned,trade facilitation has a promoting effect on countries with different levels of economic development,but it has a more significant effect on developing countries.In addition,in terms of regional heterogeneity,the promotion effect of trade facilitation on China’s machinery and transportation equipment exports is shown as follows: Asia is greater than Europe.In the end,in order to better promote the export of mechanical transportation equipment in China,the thesis puts forward corresponding policy recommendations on how to continuously optimize the level of trade facilitation between China and its trading partners from four aspects: financial market and e-commerce,institutional environment and government policies,customs environment and infrastructure conditions.