The impact of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) on Moroccan foreign trade: Comparison between developed and developing countries

Abstract

The world economy is still far from the ideal model of a barrier-free market, freed from any barriers to trade. In this paper, we will try to analyse the impact of non-tariff measures on Moroccan exportations. The review of the literature shows that the effect of non-tariff measures on international trade exceeds the tariff ones. In order to analyse empirically the impact of non-tariff measures on Moroccan foreign trade, we used the elasticity of imported demand and an estimated gravitational equation for a sample of 28 countries of different levels of development. Our database consists of 4242 tariff lines during the period 2000-2015. The results show that non-tariff measures negatively affect Moroccan foreign trade. Exporting sectors are not affected to the same degree and suffer more in trade with economically similar countries (Developing countries) than in trade with developed nations.