Komparativní analýza účinků obchodních preferencí EU, USA a Číny na zemědělský obchod v zemích subsaharské Afriky

Abstract

The dissertation focused on the least developed countries of sub-Saharan Africa specifically examines the effects of the non-reciprocal preferential schemes of the three largest trading partners of these countries, namely the European Union, the United States, and China. These schemes are the EU's Everything but Arms, the US's African Growth and Opportunity Act, and China's Duty-Free, Quota-Free Programme. For all these schemes the research focuses on the impacts on agricultural imports from countries in the region in 1995–2020. The purpose of the research is to determine whether the mentioned schemes fulfil their primary purpose of increasing the exports of beneficiary countries in whose economies agricultural production plays a key role. The direct and indirect effects of the schemes are investigated using gravity models. In addition, to demonstrate the role of external influences, the effects of selected factors on the size of the preferential scheme effects are investigated using an extended gravity model with interactions.Direct effects on provider agricultural imports are identified in the case of the preferential schemes of the United States and the European Union. In the case of the US scheme, these effects are positive; in the case of the EU scheme, in contrast, they are negative. The strict adherence to eligibility rules under the US scheme and the very specific nature of the EU's approach to agricultural trade liberalisation are offered as the main reasons for the differences in the nature of the effects. The only scheme for which direct effects were not identified is the Chinese preferential scheme. Indirect effects are identified to varying degrees for all three investigated preference schemes.