Enabling Trade

The report concludes that supply chain barriers—including border administration, transport infrastructure, market access, and the business environment—are more significant impediments to trade than tariffs. Macroeconomic modeling suggests that improving border administration and infrastructure halfway to global best practices could increase world GDP by US$ 2.6 trillion (4.7%) and exports by US$ 1.6 trillion (14.5%), whereas eliminating all tariffs would only increase GDP by US$ 0.4 trillion (0.7%). The authors argue that trade increases occur only when specific 'tipping points' are reached and that SMEs are disproportionately hindered by these barriers due to high upfront compliance costs. The report provides 18 case studies across various industries and geographies to illustrate these frictions and offers five policy recommendations, including the creation of national coordination bodies and a global effort to digitize shipping documentation.

• Reducing supply chain barriers to trade can have a far greater impact on global GDP than removing tariffs; specifically, improving border administration and transport/communications infrastructure halfway to global best practices could increase global GDP by US$ 2.6 trillion (4.7%) and exports by US$ 1.6 trillion (14.5%), compared to a US$ 0.4 trillion (0.7%) GDP increase from eliminating all tariffs.
• The impact of reducing trade barriers is not linear but occurs when 'tipping points' are reached, as company decisions regarding production locations and market entry are typically binary.
• Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are disproportionately affected by supply chain barriers because the upfront investments required to navigate diverse regulatory regimes and shipping complexities are often too high relative to their scale.
• The adoption of electronic documentation (e-freight) in the air cargo industry could result in annual savings of nearly US$ 12 billion and prevent 70-80% of paperwork-related delays.
• In Brazil, inadequate transport and ICT infrastructure significantly hinder agribusiness; for example, unreliable government servers cause delays that reduce truck fleet operating efficiencies by approximately 4%.
• Maritime cabotage restrictions, such as the US Jones Act and China's relay regulations, increase costs and environmental impacts; relaxing international relay in the US could save over US$ 200 million, while doing so in China could save US$ 500 to US$ 700 million in logistics costs and US$ 0.5-1 billion in inventory costs.
• Pharmaceutical companies face market access barriers in emerging Asian markets, such as requirements for local clinical trials, which can delay the market entry of new medicines by up to five years.
• In the apparel industry in Madagascar, supply chain barriers—specifically border administration and shipping services—account for approximately 4% of total revenues through increased freight, inventory, and customs charges.
• The 'hidden' costs of supply chain friction in Mexico can significantly erode the country's competitive advantage; for a hypothetical company, a 25% cost advantage could be reduced by more than half due to these frictions.
• Corruption in Africa acts as a significant trade barrier, with the World Bank estimating that it can absorb approximately 3% of business revenues, a cost similar to that of security expenses.

APA

Moavenzadeh, J., Doherty, S., Philip, R., Geiger, T., Gottfredson, M., Mattios, G., Willink, B. T., Correa, A., Hoekman, B., Jackson, S., Ferrantino, M., & Tsigas, M. (2013). Enabling Trade. World Economic Forum. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_SCT_EnablingTrade_Report_2013.pdf

Chicago

Moavenzadeh, John, Sean Doherty, Ronald Philip, Thierry Geiger, Mark Gottfredson, Gerry Mattios, Bon Tjeenk Willink, et al. Enabling Trade. World Economic Forum, 2013. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_SCT_EnablingTrade_Report_2013.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{moavenzadeh2013enabling, author = {Moavenzadeh, John and Doherty, Sean and Philip, Ronald and Geiger, Thierry and Gottfredson, Mark and Mattios, Gerry and Willink, Bon Tjeenk and Correa, Andres and Hoekman, Bernard and Jackson, Selina and Ferrantino, Michael and Tsigas, Marinos}, title = {{Enabling Trade}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2013}, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_SCT_EnablingTrade_Report_2013.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }