Impact of BRICS Trade Facilitation on China's Exports Using Cross-Border E-Commerce

With the rapid growth of the global digital economy, cross-border e-commerce, as an emerging form of trade, has gradually become a powerful engine to promote the development of global trade. BRICS is an important force in the global economy, and the progress of the BRICS countries' trade facilitation level has an important impact on the global trade environment. This paper conducts an in-depth study of the dynamic changes in BRICS trade facilitation from 2013 to 2022, and uses an extended gravity model to analyze the specific impact of this change on China's exports using cross-border e-commerce. The results show that although the BRICS countries have made some progress in trade facilitation, the overall level still needs to be improved, and there are obvious differences among member countries. However, the improvement of trade facilitation among BRICS countries has undoubtedly brought significant positive effects to China's exports using cross-border e-commerce.

The energy-intensity of China's export trade

China is one of the world’s major importers and exporters. On the one hand, massive exports have created enormous economic value and employment opportunities for Chinese and become one of the vital forces underpinning the country’s economic growth. On the other hand, exports have caused a huge amount of energy resource consumption and carbon emissions and added pressure to the country for a sustainable growth. China exports a wide variety of products, each of which is attached to a different industry chain with different energy consumptions. Therefore, the evolution of the product structure has become one of the key factors affecting China’s future energy consumption and economic growth. To further promote nationwide energy conservation and emission reduction, reduce the pressure exerted by economic growth on energy consumption and the environment and win more space for sustainable economic growth, it is imperative to understand energy consumption and carbon emissions embodied in export products and provide support for China’s export policy adjustment. This study attempts to calculate, compare and analyze the embodied energy and carbon emissions in 46 major export products using the full life cycle assessment method, and concludes by offering policy recommendations.

Research on carbon emissions in China's export trade based on input-output model

Becoming the world's largest emitter of carbon makes China the object of criticism;however,people may ignore the fact that when China exports low-carbon products,the carbon emissions have been left in the meanwhile,forming the so-called"embodied carbon".Using the input-output model,this paper analyzes the carbon emission intensity and amount of embodied carbon of various sectors in China's export trade in 2002 and 2007,and filters out high carbon emission sectors.In addition,this paper also points out the problem of carbon emissions'international transfer from developed countries to China through the analysis of national and regional flow of export carbon emissions and changing of the proportion of emissions for exports relative to total emissions,and explains the reason that caused carbon transfer to China by using the treadmill of production theory.Based on that,this paper proposes some measures for carbon reduction in China from the foreign trade perspective.

Technological Improvement in China's Export Sophistication

This paper has developed a measurement approach that integrates price with the product technical content initiated by Lall et al.(2006),i.e.,dividing HS6-quantile products into high-end,middle-end and low-end levels through the quantile ranking of prices of the same product from different countries or regions in a target market.Our estimation has discovered that due to the lack of product price differentiation,traditional method for the measurement of product technical content overestimated technical content of the low-end segment in the same category of products while underestimated technical content of the high-end segment in the same category of products.Re-calculation based on Rodric's result indicates that specialness of Chinese exports is mainly reflected by high-end and middle-end products.In addition,the competition result of the sophistication of Chinese exports indicates that since the middle of the 1990 s,the sophistication of Chinese exports has remained relatively low compared with the average level of the world and developing countries;from an economic perspective,improvement in the sophistication of Chinese exports primarily derived from middle-end and low-end products;from a category-specific perspective,improvement in the sophistication of Chinese exports primarily derived from low-technology export products.

China's Export of Gifts Rank Fifth in the World

China is not only a grand trader, but also a grand producer and consumer of gifts. Most of the 44 categories of light industries, several tens of thousands of enterprises mainly in economically developed areas, are undertaking the production of gifts. It was known that only in Shenzhen City, there are over 1600 gift-making enterprises. Their annual output of gifts exceeded 13 billion yuan, and annual export reached 1 billion US dollars.

CGE Model Measures Carbon Duty's Impact on China's Exports

Carbon-motivated border tax adjustment is a unilateral international trade policy aimed at compensating for the loss ofcompetitiveness of carbon-intensive products due to carbon dioxide abatement actions.It violates fundamental principlesof the UNFCCC and potentially conflicts with the core WTO principle of non-discrimination as reflected in the GATTArticle Ⅰ and Article Ⅲ.Based on an analysis of carbon emissions embodied in China’s industrial exports,this paperevaluates with a recursive dynamic CGE model the potential impacts of the carbon duty on China’s industrial production,exports and employment.The results of a simulation show that with a tariff rate of US＄30 or US＄60 per ton of carbon,theoutput of China’s industrial sectors would decline by 0.62-1.22 percent,exports by 3.53-6.95 percent,and employment by1.22-2.39 percent.The authors suggest several measures of alleviating the impacts of carbon duty and put forward a carbonduty policy based on carbon consumption per capita as a countermeasure.

Cross-border E-commerce and China's Exports during the COVID-19 Pandemic

China's exports experienced a rapid recovery after the outbreak of the 2019 COVID-19 pandemic.A primary engine was cross-border e-commerce(CBEC)trade,which bucked the downward export trend during the pandemic.By exploring the variation in the number of CBEC comprehensive pilot zones across provinces,we identified the causal impact of CBEC on exports using monthly province-product-destination data for 2019 and 2020.We found strong and robust evidence that CBEC contributed to exports during the pandemic by promoting the expansion of incumbent exports(intensive margin)rather than through the expansion of product categories and exporting partners(extensive margin).Specifically,higher pandemic risk suppressed the role of CBEC at the intensive margin while enhancing it at the extensive margin.Exports to developed countries benefited more from CBEC,both intensively and extensively.Compared with final products,a larger number of intermediate products were exported through CBEC after the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Impact of High-standard Free Trade Areas on the Diversification of China's Export Products: Expanding Market or Intensifying Competition?

In the context of China's efforts to establish a global network of free trade areas and diversify its export products, this study explores the impact of trade agreement depth on China's export diversification. Building upon a trade model with multiproduct firms, we discover that the effect of trade agreement depth on export diversification is multifaceted, depending on the relative magnitude of the “market expansion effect” and the “competition intensification effect.” Through empirical analysis of China's exports to 132 countries (or regions) from 2000 to 2015, we find that the deepening of trade agreements affected China's export diversification negatively. This negative correlation was predominantly due to the similarity in comparative advantages between China and its trade partners, leading to the “competition intensification effect” overshadowing the “market expansion effect.” We also note that “natural” agreements, when deepened, were more likely to affect China's export diversification adversely than their “non-natural” counterparts. Moreover, as export diversification increased, the marginal impact of deepening trade agreements exhibited an inverted U-shaped trajectory.

China's rare earth import and export analysis in the 1st half of 2024

1.Export situation from January to June 20241.1 Overall export situation of rare earth products Export value of rare earth products showed a wholistic down trend affected by the continuousdecline in rare earth prices in the first half year,however,export volume increased.According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs,from January to June 2024,China's cumulative export of rare earth products was 29,095 tons,an increase of 11%year-on-year,with a cumulative export value of 256 million US dollars,a decrease of 43% year-on-year,Figure 1.

Honey Safety Standards and Its Impacts on China's Honey Export

Food safety standard draws increasing concerns on agricultural trade throughout the world.This paper aims to assess the impact of maximum residual limit standard（MRL） of chloromycetin on honey exporting from China.To achieve this objective,the paper discusses the trends of China＇s honey production and export practices,analyzes changes on MRL of chloromycetin adopted by major importing countries,and use a gravity model to estimate the impact of MRL of chloromycetin on China＇s honey export.The results show that despite the rapid growth of China＇s honey production,honey export has declined significantly since 2000.The major reason of declining honey export was mainly due to the more stringent food safety standards indicated by MRL of chloromycetin imposed by importing countries on their honey imports.

Does the Domestic Value Added Induced by China's Exports Really Belong to China?

Since 2001, the exports of foreign-invested enterprises （FIEs） have accounted for more than 50percent of China＇s total exports. As foreign capital occupies a high proportion of the total capital of FIEs, most FIEs ＇ capital gains are foreign factor income. Although these gains are calculated as apart of China＇s GDP, they do not belong to China＇s national income. To determine the real contribution of exports to China ＂s welfare, the present paper analyses the impact of exports on China ＂s national income using a non-competitive input output model capturing processing trade. The results show that every US$1000 of China＇s exports generates US$506.8 of national income. The real contribution of exports to China ＂s welfare is much smaller than what we expected. This suggests that China should endeavor to improve the gains from international markets orfind another engine to maintain its economic growth.

China's Export-led Growth Strategy:An International Comparison

A pressing challenge for China is determining where to accommodate millions of migrant workers displaced by the closing of many export-oriented factories. The current global financial crisis＂ has exposed the fragility of the export-led growth strategy China has adopted over the past 30years. Is there a better alternative for providing non-agricultural jobs than the sweatshops of cheap export production？ In the present paper, international experience is reviewed to shed light on China＇s situation. Using pooled regression models, we analyze data from the World Bank for 209 economies. We investigate the experience of other economies to answer the following questions： What is the common process of expanding the nonagricultural economy？ How is that process affected by the level of the real exchange rate？ Is export production a common way of absorbing surplus rural labor？ Finally, what are the ways that domestic demand and service employment can be expanded？

Empirical analysis of carbon tariff's effect on the export structure of China's manufacturing industry and social welfare based on the GTAP model

In recent years,carbon emissions have gradually evolved from an environment issue into a political and economic one.Carbon tariff has brought about new trade barriers of developed countries,and in order to enhance the industrial competitiveness of developed countries,it will produce unfavorable impact on developing countries.Concentrated on the manufacturing industry,which is the most intensive high-carbon industry in China's export structure,this article studies the relationship between carbon tariff policy and industry structure of export trade and builds up a relation between climate change and international trade.First,by means of establishing a partial equilibrium model,it applies geometric analysis and mathematical analysis to compute the impact on China's manufacturing export trade and the consequences of the introduction of the US carbon tariff to China's manufacturing industry that has already imposed a domestic shipping carbon tax.Furthermore,with the application of the GTAP model,it estimates the overall economic and welfare effects on China's manufacturing industry if the US and Europe introduce carbon tariff by means of four ways,and then analyzes the influence on China's manufacturing industry export structure and social welfare as well.The result shows that the introduction of the US carbon import tariff lowers China's export price and export volume,and the implementation of a domestic carbon tax justifies a higher export price and a lower export volume for China.However,the degree of export reduction is smaller than that under the effect of the US carbon tariff.In the case of developed countries imposing carbon tariff on China's energy-intensive industries,such as chemical rubber products,oil and coal-processing industry and paper industry,whose export would be reduced,the negative impact on the paper industry is the severest,which will decrease the paper industry's export ranging from 1.79%to 6.05%,whereas the other industries' export will increase.Anyhow,it will promote China's manufacturing industry to adjust the export structure to a certain extent.In addition,it will lead to a decrease in China's welfare,with a decrease between $2,134 billion and $8,347 billion.Finally,this paper provides information on international coordination,export structure adjustment and green manufacturing adjustment as a reference for the development of China's manufacturing industry.

Trade Barriers and Countermeasures for Export of China's Agricultural Products

At present,export of China's agricultural products is faced with many trade barriers,especially technological barriers.Trade barriers include(1)technological barriers(such as quarantine and inspection barrier,identity certification/authentication barrier and labeling rules barrier);(2)trade remedy barrier;(3)other non-tariff barriers(NTB).Through positioning and analysis of trade barriers of China's agricultural products,it is known that technological barriers should not be deemed unreasonable totally.Some barriers also have certain positive significance.To respond to trade barriers,it comes up with countermeasures and recommendations from the perspective of agricultural producers and government.Agricultural producers should actively improve product quality,abide by requirement of importers,and treat quarantine and inspection in a rational manner;government should supply information and issue early warning,assist domestic producers in responding to lawsuits,and take advantage of WTO platform to solve trade disputes.

OPTIMIZING CHINA'S EXPORT STRUCTURE COMBINING GOAL PROGRAMMING AND NON-COMPETITIVE INPUT-OUTPUT MODEL

supported by the Taishan Scholar Construction Engineering by Shandong Government the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos.61120106011 and 61203029

The Belt and Road Initiative and China's Export:A Soft Power Perspective

Using a newly built soft power index,we examine whether and how soft power affects Chinese firm-level export to the Belt and Road(B&R)countries from 2000 to 2016.We find that soft power has significantly positive effects on both export value and export product types for the B&R countries.These effects are more pronounced than those for non-B&R countries and differ not only between the"Belt"and the"Road"countries but also regional groups,firm ownerships,modes of trade,and sectors.Further analysis shows that soft power increases the intensive margin of exports by approximately three times that of the extensive margin.Thus,our findings provide a new perspective for understanding both the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI)and the contemporary economic evolution occurring in China.

Impact of Trade Promotion Agencies on China's Export Binary Marginal Growth

On the basis of the new-new trade theory, this paper makes use of the micro-level export data of China's international trade with sixteen major trading partners from CEPII BACI international trade database of1996-2011 and decomposes the total export growth into the intensive margin and expansion margin, so as to conduct an empirical analysis of the impact of trade promotion agency on China's export binary marginal growth with the GMM dynamic panel data model estimation method. The results show that trade promotion agency has a significant positive impact on the intensive margin and expansion margin of export growth,the promoting effect on the export growth expansion margin is greater than that on the intensive margin.The trade promotion committees can play more significant role in promoting export than embassies and consulates stationed abroad. The promoting effect of trade promotion agencies on export growth binary margin of medium and high-tech industry products is larger than that on the medium and lower technology industry products. Therefore, China should increase the number of trade promotion agencies, in particular,have more Trade Promotion Committees.

Competitiveness of China's Agricultural Product Export to the United States of America

Taking major agricultural product importers at the American market as reference object and using market share and growth rate,this paper analyzed current situation of the competitiveness of China's agricultural product export to the United States of America. It used the Exports Similarity Index to evaluate the competitiveness of China's agricultural product export to USA and it analyzed the competitiveness of China's agricultural product export to USA by the shift share method. Research results indicate that China's agricultural products occupy small portion of American market and are faced with intense competition of many developing countries,especially the Thailand. However,China still has strong export competitiveness and ranks the second place only second to India. Finally,it came up with recommendations for raising the competitiveness of China's agricultural product export to USA and promoting China's agricultural product export to USA.