Trade

Trade has been a key pillar of TIPS’s activities since its inception in 1996, with a focus on trade policy and negotiations as well as analysis of South Africa and Southern Africa’s trade performance. More recently, deliberate efforts have been made to advance research and other activities beyond South Africa into the region, including the development of the SADC Trade Database, intra-SADC trade performance reviews and capacity building in trade data analysis and computable general equilibrium modeling. This is now being supplemented by research work in other trade-related areas, such as industrial policy, investment, sustainable growth and non-tariff barriers to trade. Other important areas are infrastructure, investment and services research.

The proposed trade programme will continue with analysis of trade performance and trade policy for South Africa and the region. This will be supplemented by related work from other areas able to provide linkages between new areas and trade and issues such as industrial policy, investment and general supply side constraints.

The TIPS trade programme will not be limited to geographical borders in terms of regional focus. Instead it will take on issues that are taking place elsewhere but have some relevance or effect on the region. It will look at trade arrangements with developing countries such as India, Brazil, Russia and China and consider the possibility of increasing the non-trade related gains from miscellaneous trade arrangements with them. Also to be examined is research policy and analysis in the area of trade in services, particularly with developing partners such as SACU and SADC. The integration portion of the trade programme will look at the role that TIPS can play in research, capacity building and dissemination and linkages with the overall “African Economic Integration” programme will be important to this process.

TIPS will also look into expanding further beyond SADC geographic borders in the arenas of food security (linking this to trade, poverty and agriculture), infrastructure, investment and services research.
 

Recent Related Publications

• 15 Year Review - Trade
  
• TIPS TRALAC Policy Brief SACU service negotiations

Trade Briefs

• tralac Trade Brief: Tripartite FTA: State of Play on Preferential Rules of Origin
• tralac Trade Brief: A Permanent Summit of the Heads of State and Government for SACU: How and Why?
• tralac Trade Brief: South Africa’s way ahead: are we a BRIC?

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