The effects of trade policy on trade among the EU and BRICS countries

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to estimate whether the liberalization process benefited a mutual trade between the EU and BRICS Members over the last two decades, and whether protectionism, which is currently on the rise, still represents a significant toll to trade. Our results proved that the multilateral trade liberalization process, represented by the WTO, is no longer benefiting trade among observed economies. It clearly confirms the long-standing stalemate in the WTO. We have also found that the observed FTA between the EU and South Africa created trade strongly, but unevenly. Finally, we found that the level of tariffs no longer represents a significant barrier to trade among observed countries.