International trade restrictions by Practical Law. Related Content. This table is part of the global guide to international trade and commercial transactions. Please note that law stated dates for each jurisdiction may differ. Click on each jurisdiction to see the full answers and to check the law stated date.
Are there specific restrictions on trade with certain jurisdictions? Argentina complies with sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council. There are restrictions on trade activities in the Malvinas Falkland Islands.
Australia implements two sanctions regimes, the United Nations Security Council sanctions regime and an autonomous sanction regime. While the former regime is implemented as an obligation under international law, the latter regime is a matter of Australian foreign policy. Detailed information for the sanctions on specific jurisdictions can be found on the DFAT's website:. The EU regularly publishes a list of restrictive measures in force. This list can be accessed at: www.
See also the EU sanctions map at: www. Brazil imposes restrictions or embargoes on exports for some jurisdictions strictly based on the decisions of the United Nations and other international organisations. Brazil does not generally impose embargoes or economic sanctions unilaterally. Current restrictions and embargoes are listed online www. Export controls. There are no restrictions on trade with certain jurisdictions.
Costa Rica. There is currently a ban on imports of Mexican avocados, which is based on sanitary concerns of the Ministry of Agriculture see www. Dominican Republic. There are no specific restrictions on trade with certain jurisdictions. After all, environmental protection is vital to two industries of key importance in many low-income countries—agriculture and tourism. These values are also reinforced by the United Nations, which sponsors treaties to address issues such as climate change and global warming, the preservation of biodiversity, the spread of deserts, and the environmental health of the seabed.
Countries that share a national border or are within a region often sign environmental agreements about air and water rights, too. The WTO is also becoming more aware of environmental issues and more careful about ensuring that increases in trade do not inflict environmental damage. Finally, it should be noted that these concerns about the race to the bottom or pressuring low-income countries for more strict environmental standards do not apply very well to the roughly half of all U.
Indeed, many European countries have stricter environmental standards in certain industries than the United States. One argument for shutting out certain imported products is that they are unsafe for consumers.
Indeed, consumer rights groups have sometimes warned that the World Trade Organization would require nations to reduce their health and safety standards for imported products. And they should not arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate between countries where identical or similar conditions prevail. However, such standards must have some scientific basis.
It is improper to impose one set of health and safety standards for domestically produced goods but a different set of standards for imports, or one set of standards for imports from Europe and a different set of standards for imports from Latin America. In , Mattel recalled nearly two million toys imported from China due to concerns about high levels of lead in the paint, as well as some loose parts. It is unclear if other toys were subject to similar standards.
More recently, in , Japan blocked imports of U. The science on the impact of GMOs on health is still developing. Some argue that a nation should not depend too heavily on other countries for supplies of certain key products, such as oil, or for special materials or technologies that might have national security applications.
On closer consideration, this argument for protectionism proves rather weak. Several times in the last few decades, when disruptions in the Middle East have shifted the supply curve of oil back to the left and sharply raised the price, the effects have been felt across the United States economy. This is not, however, a very convincing argument for restricting imports of oil.
It might also be useful to import extra oil and put it into a stockpile for use in an emergency, as the United States government did by starting a Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Moreover, it may be necessary to discourage people from using oil, and to start a high-powered program to seek out alternatives to oil. A straightforward way to do this would be to raise taxes on oil. Shale oil is adding to domestic supply using fracking extraction techniques. Whether or not to limit certain kinds of imports of key technologies or materials that might be important to national security and weapons systems is a slightly different issue.
Indeed, there is a U. Defense National Stockpile Center that has built up reserves of many materials, from aluminum oxides, antimony, and bauxite to tungsten, vegetable tannin extracts, and zinc although many of these stockpiles have been reduced and sold in recent years.
Think every country is pro-trade? How about the U. The following Clear it Up might surprise you. How do people around the world feel about expanding trade between nations? In summer , the Pew Foundation surveyed 45, people in 47 countries. One of the questions asked about opinions on growing trade ties between countries. In fact, among the 47 countries surveyed, the United States ranked by far the lowest on this measure, followed by Egypt, Italy, and Argentina.
One final reason why economists often treat the national interest argument skeptically is that almost any product can be touted by lobbyists and politicians as vital to national security.
All too often, the national interest argument has become an excuse for handing out the indirect subsidy of protectionism to certain industries or companies. After all, decisions about what constitutes a key strategic material are made by politicians, not nonpartisan analysts. There are a number of arguments that support restricting imports. These arguments are based around industry and competition, environmental concerns, and issues of safety and security.
The infant industry argument for protectionism is that small domestic industries need to be temporarily nurtured and protected from foreign competition for a time so that they can grow into strong competitors. In some cases, notably in East Asia, this approach has worked. Often, however, the infant industries never grow up.
On the other hand, arguments against dumping which is setting prices below the cost of production to drive competitors out of the market , often simply seem to be a convenient excuse for imposing protectionism. Low-income countries typically have lower environmental standards than high-income countries because they are more worried about immediate basics such as food, education, and healthcare.
However, except for a small number of extreme cases, shutting off trade seems unlikely to be an effective method of pursuing a cleaner environment. Finally, there are arguments involving safety and security. Under the rules of the World Trade Organization, countries are allowed to set whatever standards for product safety they wish, but the standards must be the same for domestic products as for imported products and there must be a scientific basis for the standard.
The national interest argument for protectionism holds that it is unwise to import certain key products because if the nation becomes dependent on key imported supplies, it could be vulnerable to a cutoff. However, it is often wiser to stockpile resources and to use foreign supplies when available, rather than preemptively restricting foreign supplies so as not to become dependent on them.
Last modified October 4, Lutz, Hannah. Auto Exports Hit Record in Through judicious use of quotas, tariffs, and subsidies, governments are able to improve the domestic economy. This may increase the price that domestic consumers pay for goods, though this small annoyance is usually outweighed by significantly bolstered overall economic levels and long-term economic growth.
In the section on net exports we learned that net exports equal exports minus imports. The difference between exports and imports is referred to as the trade deficit or the trade surplus. When exports exceed imports, a trade surplus exists. When imports exceed exports, a trade deficit exists. There often talk about the effects of the trade deficit on the economy. What is the actual effect of the trade deficit though? Thus, if a large trade deficit exists, foreign investment must be high.
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I Accept Show Purposes. Your Money. Personal Finance. Your Practice. Popular Courses. Part Of. Global Players. Economy Economics. Table of Contents Expand. Who Collects a Tariff? Common Types of Tariffs. Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade.
Who Benefits from Tariffs? How Do Tariffs Affect Prices? Tariffs and Modern Trade. The Bottom Line. Key Takeaways Tariffs, or taxes imposed on imports, have been making news lately as the Trump administration initiated multiple tariff rounds on China and elsewhere. Tariffs are a type of protectionist trade barrier that can come in several forms.
While tariffs may benefit a few domestic sectors, economists agree that free trade policies in a global market are ideal. Tariffs are paid by domestic consumers and not the exporting country, but they have the effect of raising the relative prices of imported products. Article Sources. Investopedia requires writers to use primary sources to support their work.
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