Of APEC, CPTPP and IPEF

Remove

Stephen Jacobi, Executive Director of NZIBF, traveled to San Francisco for APEC Leaders’ week and writes his thoughts on the outcome.

read more

COVID-19: Time to Lift Export Bans and Lower Barriers on Medical Goods

by | Apr 23, 2020 | Trade In The News

Remove
Singapore, 21 April 2020
Trade policy is a tool for fighting the pandemic

COVID-19 is a multifaceted global pandemic that has impacted the health and safety of billions and has long-term economic and social effects. This moment offers an opportunity for APEC economies to relook trade policy response to ensure that it supports health systems across the region.

Saving lives is, of course, the most pressing priority right now. Finding innovative economic solutions to this dilemma cannot wait until the lockdowns are lifted and the health crisis abates. The private sector has called upon APEC to do more. In late March, the APEC Business Advisory Council, which represents the Asia-Pacific’s business community, wrote to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin of Malaysia, who is the chair of APEC in 2020, to urge collaboration across the region to combat the health impacts and mitigate the economic consequences of the pandemic.

They called for multilateral action to help contain the spread of COVID-19, though information exchange, aligning health systems and enabling travel for essential health workers to where they are needed.

Notably, the council pointed to gaps in trade policy that, if addressed, would greatly contribute to managing the health crisis. They highlighted that there remain restrictions to the export of medical equipment, medicines and basic protective items, which are both critical and in severe shortage.

It may now be an opportune time for economies to consider the elimination or reduction of tariffs on these life-saving products. These products include face masks, hand soap, sanitizers and other personal protective equipment. APEC represents 40.8 percent (USD 404.5 billion) of the global import value of these essential medical goods, and 28.8 percent (USD 271.8 billion) of global exports. More importantly, APEC economies occupy many of the top spots on the lists of importers and exporters of these items.  

Such sector-specific tariff reductions aren’t new to APEC. Using the ground-breaking APEC environmental goods initiative as a model, members could agree to an APEC-wide standstill, and eventually phased elimination, of all tariffs on these essential medical goods.

Furthermore, recognizing the role that APEC can play in this crisis, economies could commit to refrain from implementing trade-restrictive measures on these products even after the pandemic abates and maintain open supply lines.

APEC has been known to be an incubator of innovative good ideas that have influenced other multinational bodies—its environmental goods initiative, for example, eventually figured into discussions in the World Trade Organisation. Such a timely and life-saving trade liberalization initiative would send a positive signal to the rest of the world and contribute in steering the global response to the pandemic in the right direction.

By Dr Denis Hew, director of the APEC Policy Support Unit

Read the original blog here.

REGISTER WITH TRADE WORKS

Register to stay up to date with latest news, as well as saving and discussing articles you’re interested in.

 

Remove

 

Latest News

Of APEC, CPTPP and IPEF

While New Zealand was sorting out its new Government, the alphabet soup which is trade got a good stirring in San Francisco.  This was APEC Leaders’ week, the annual gathering of Leaders, Ministers, business people and other stakeholders from the 21 economies of...

EYES OPENED DURING INDIA VISIT

Published by Newsroom on 6 September 2023 Stephen Jacobi reports on the recent business delegation to India. Every country has its contrasts and a subcontinent of 1.4 billion with thousands of years of history has more than most.  Today’s India can reach the...

Large business delegation bound for India

MEDIA RELEASE - Tuesday 22 August, 2023 Fifty business representatives will leave later this week bound for Delhi, making it one of the largest delegations ever to head for India. The delegation, comprising members and senior leaders of five business organisations,...

India and New Zealand: The next innings

As published in the NZ Herald, 18 August 2023 By Stephen Jacobi As a trade mission prepares to depart for Delhi, Stephen Jacobi of the New Zealand International Business Forum considers the prospects for growing two-way trade and investment between India and New...

CRUNCH TIME FOR CPTPP

As published in the NZ Herald, 18 August 2023. By Stephen Jacobi, Executive Director, NZ International Business Forum. Following the Ministers’ meeting in Auckland, what is the outlook for CPTPP as the world’s most ambitious free trade agreement? When Ministers...

CER CELEBRATES A RUBY ANNIVERSARY

The Australia-New Zealand Leadership, the semi-annual gathering of Ministers and business leaders, has been described as a “successful symbol of trans-Tasman togetherness[1]”.  And the togetherness vibe was certainly present when the Forum gathered in Wellington...