Do National Standards Impact Foreign Trade? Evidence from China's Foreign Trade and Sino-US Bilateral Trade

This paper investigates the impact of standards on China¡¯s trade volume with the rest of the world and its bilateral trade flows with the US, from panel data covering 33 ICS classified technology sectors between 1990¨C2010. Results show that China¡¯s country specific voluntary standards promote China¡¯s foreign trade and the impact on exports is larger than on imports. China¡¯s internationally harmonized voluntary standards have the strongest positive impact, especially on imports. China¡¯s country specific mandatory standards increase imports while decreasing exports. China¡¯s internationally harmonized mandatory standards are favorable for China¡¯s foreign trade development. China¡¯s country specific voluntary standards and internationally harmonized standards contribute to promoting China¡¯s trade surplus with the US.