Tariff and Non-Tariff Barriers — Free Trade vs Protection

Free trade is a policy of allowing goods to move between countries with no government-imposed restrictions — no tariffs, quotas, or other barriers. Protection is the opposite policy stance — deliberately restricting imports to shield domestic producers from foreign competition.

Tariff barriers are taxes/duties imposed on imported (sometimes exported) goods, raising their price in the domestic market and making domestically produced substitutes relatively more competitive. A common form is the import duty, charged as a percentage of the good's value.

Non-tariff barriers (NTBs) achieve the same protective effect WITHOUT using a price-based tax — for example:

• Import quotas — a fixed physical limit on the quantity of a good that may be imported in a given period.
• Licensing requirements — requiring importers to obtain government permission before importing certain goods.
• Technical/quality standards — requiring imported goods to meet specific domestic safety, health or quality standards, which can be more restrictive for foreign suppliers to meet than a simple tax. …