The US-China trade war that started with the focus on tariffs has provided impetus for hostilities on the front of non-tariff measures (NTMs) also. The first objective of this paper is to appraise the current knowledge of NTMs with respect to its classification, determinants and importantly its impact on international trade by intensively reviewing the exiting literature on the subject matter. The implementation of NTMs primarily results in negative effect on trade, though some positive effects could also be observed. Secondly, the paper delves into the understanding of the past NTM practices of the US and China, thereby leading to the knowledge on its potential use in the future. Both countries instigated a large number of NTMs towards their trading partners and also against each other. Besides, they have mainly used TBT and SPS aspects of NTMs which are primarily agriculture related products. With the escalation of the trade war, there is a greater likelihood that the scale and scope on the use of NTMs gets amplified.
KeywordsNon-Tariff MeasuresTrade PolicyUSChinaTrade War
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