Increases in ocean transport costs have offset all trade liberalisation measures of the last three decades

By David Jessop

When governments engage in trade negotiations their principal objectives are to achieve trade advantage for their business community in overseas markets, lower the cost of imports and to encourage foreign investment. As a consequence they focus predominantly on issues such as reducing tariff barriers, ensuring market access for national products and spending time addressing technical issues such as rules of origin.

However, a recent short paper published by one of the big Canadian banks threatens to stand all of this on its head.