Reports

International Trade
Barrier Index 2021

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Foreword From

Daniel Griswold

Freedom-loving people everywhere should thank Americans for Tax Reform and their global partners for this useful and comprehensive 2021 edition of the Trade Barrier Index (TBI). The index lights the path toward policies that are more likely to promote freedom and prosperity for people around the world.

The TBI measures not just tariffs but behind-the-border regulations

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Acknowledgements

Philip Thompson

I am absolutely grateful to work at Americans for Tax Reform Foundation, an organization that values individual volition, market freedom, and entrepreneurship. I am deeply thankful to ATR's Executive Director, Christopher Butler and ATR's Vice President of International Affairs, Lorenzo Montanari for giving me the opportunity to transition this side project into a planned deliver

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2021 Case Studies

Mercosur and the Automobile Industry — Trade Diversion and Protectionism in the Southern Cone

Pedro Raffy Vartanian & Vladimir Fernandes Maciel

Benefits of Bilateral and Multilateral Free Trade Agreements

Natalia Gonzalez & Tomas Flores

The Proliferation of Digital Trade Barriers Threatens Innovation, Free Trade, Competition, and Free Speech

Philip Thompson & Andreas Hellmann

Government Responses to COVID-19 Drive a Pandemic in Illicit Trade

Philip Thompson, Giorgina Agostini, Rowan Saydlowski & Zsombor Verkmann

The Effects of Pre-Shipment Inspections on Food Trade in Indonesia

Kukuh Sembodho & Arumdriya Murwani

South Africa’s Next Steps for Trade Liberalization

Christopher Hattingh

Protectionist Tariffs Compromising Sri Lanka’s Middle-Income Earners’ Right to Shelter

Sathya Karunarathne & Aneetha Warusavitarana

Lessons in High Tobacco Taxes and the Smuggling in the Philippines

Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr.

Acknowledgements

I am absolutely grateful to work at Americans for Tax Reform Foundation, an organization that values individual volition, market freedom, and entrepreneurship. I am deeply thankful to ATR's Executive Director, Christopher Butler and ATR's Vice President of International Affairs, Lorenzo Montanari for giving me the opportunity to transition this side project into a planned deliverable.

I also must thank Daniel Griswold for offering an encouraging foreword while enjoying his retirement from a long career as a trade expert.

A special thank you to the authors of the case studies published in the 2021 Trade Barrier Index. The Index continues to be a platform for think tanks to share their challenges and successes with trade policy. I am also grateful to our Senior Associate Rowan Saydlowski, fellow Giorgina Agostini, and associates Zsombor Verkmann and Mary Ann Cortese for the help in research and producing the 2021 Index.

Philip Thompson