Excerpt: “The Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) principle has historically been instrumental in promoting stability and equitable trade conditions. In recent decades there has been a rise in bilateral and regional trade agreements, which deviate from the MFN principle in providing more favourable tariff treatment to specific partners. At the same time, WTO Members can, under certain circumstances, raise trade barriers against imports for different reasons, including to counter unfair trade practices. Using a novel and comprehensive dataset based on customs data submitted by WTO Members to the WTO’s Integrated Database and complemented by other sources, this paper provides an in-depth analysis of global merchandise trade flows under both MFN and preferential tariffs.”
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