The Combo Effect of Trade Barrier Prohibition and Intellectual Property Protection on Export Trade Structure

A trade agreement is a vital link for today’s economy. Countries are trying to develop deeper provisions on technical trade measures by signing free trade agreements, making the standards an essential part of the FTA negotiations. Therefore, it is of profound significance to understand the characteristics and impacts of the provisions of technical trade measures in the Asia-Pacific region. The study measured the 62 FTA technical trade provisions signed by the Asia-Pacific countries through lateral measurement. Based on the measured results, a gravitational model is built to empirically analyze the impact of eliminating technical barriers to trade in FTAs on the exports of bilateral high-tech industries. Eventually, this paper finds out that the signing and entry into force of free trade agreements containing provisions on technical trade measures can significantly change the ratio of IP-intensive products but have no significant impact on the total export.