Non-tariff measures and Vietnam's export performance

The increasing importance of non-tariff measures (NTMs) in international trade today presents a challenge for developing countries that are following an export-led growth strategy. This paper investigates the effects of NTMs on Vietnamese exports. It considers NTMs imposed by importing countries and by the Vietnamese government itself. We find that for importing countries' NTMs the technical measures have a positive effect on Vietnamese exports, especially intermediate goods. Final products seem to be the target of non-technical measures used by importing countries. With regard to Vietnam's export-related NTMs, technical measures seem to be effective in increasing Vietnam's exports of final products to importing countries with a level of per capita income below US$11,462. For those importing country markets, the positive marginal effect of Vietnam's export-related technical measures on exports of final products is higher in poorer countries. On the other hand, the non-technical categories tend to negatively affect Vietnamese exports of intermediate goods.