Analysis of the Role of Tariff Concessions in East Asia

While many studies focus on the impact of trade agreements, the literature has not focused on the extent of their implementation, in terms of the aspects agreed upon therein. In this article, we identify the past achievements of economic partnership agreements (EPAs) in the East Asian region in terms of tariff removals and suggest room for further economic benefits from trade liberalisation in the region. Second, we incorporate the HS6-level tariff concession dataset, which distinguishes between tariff removals agreed in these EPAs in East Asia but not yet implemented, from existing overall tariffs in 2011, in the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) Database, which only incorporates enforced tariff reductions through the base-year applied tariffs. To analyse future trade integration, we include commitments that are not yet implemented. This allows us to analyse partial versus full enforcement of tariff concession commitments. Our results suggest that taking those commitments into account matters economically in East Asia. JEL Classification:D58, F13, F14, F15, F1