Russia's entry into the WTO boosts the development of China's textile industry

As Russia’s largest trading partner, China’s accession to the WTO will undoubtedly open a new page in China’s economic and trade relations. Analysts pointed out that Russia’s accession to the WTO will have a full-scale role in promoting trade and investment between the two countries. The decline in tariff levels after Russia’s accession to the WTO is undoubtedly a good news for China’s expansion of exports. More importantly, the standardization of the trade system and the improvement of the investment environment have a far-reaching impact on the development of China-Russia economic and trade relations.

Zhang Jianping, director of the International Economic Cooperation Research Office of the National Development and Reform Institute’s Institute of International Economics, told reporters that the trade between China and Russia is relatively low, with only about US$90 billion. At the same time, Russia’s demand for Chinese products is still very high, especially for finished products and light industrial products.

"I believe that after Russia's accession to the WTO, trade facilitation measures such as the transparency of its policies and regulations, customs clearance procedures, commodity inspection and quarantine procedures will follow suit, and will promote the promotion and development of bilateral trade," said Zhang Jianping.

Specifically, according to the WTO accession agreement, the overall tariff level in Russia will fall from 10% in 2011 to 7.8%. "Russia's tariff cuts are not as large as we think. In addition, there are still 3-8 years of transition for different products. However, tariff cuts are good news for us to expand exports." Liu Huaqin, deputy director of the European Research Department of the Ministry of Commerce The reporter said.

This reporter learned that electromechanical and textile products are the most important products exported to Russia. The share of the two accounts for the vast majority of exports. Due to the relatively lagging development of light industry in Russia, light industrial products have always maintained high import tariffs, such as 12% for woolen garments and 30% for leather garments.

According to Liu Huaqin's analysis, the reduction of Russian import tariffs is beneficial to China, but it depends on the extent of decline in specific products. For example, electromechanical products accounted for more than 30% of its total export share, and its overall taxation decreased from 8.4% to 6.2%, a decrease of 2.2 percentage points, and the number of cars dropped from 15.5% to 12%. The reduction of its tariffs is beneficial to our expansion of exports.

"And we haven't seen the tax reduction of textiles yet." Liu Huaqin said. According to analysis, since Russia imported garments from China has exceeded 60% of its total imports, it has not drastically reduced import tariffs on textiles and clothing to promote the import of Chinese products.

In terms of China’s imports, Russia’s accession to the WTO has not had a particularly large impact. Liu Huaqin pointed out that because more than 70% of Russia’s export products are raw materials such as oil, natural gas, timber, and steel, these are zero-tariff or very low tariffs in most countries in the world. “As long as it exports Most countries need it, so there is no special impact."

Beyond trade, accession to the WTO means that domestic Russia welcomes foreign investment more. Coupled with the rules of the World Trade Organization, China’s investment space in Russia will also increase significantly.

Russia’s commitment to WTO entry has made some commitments to expanding the service industry’s opening up. Among them, there are 16 service areas and 116 service departments, including finance, insurance, telecommunications, railway transportation and retail business. "The opening of these areas is also beneficial to us to increase cooperation with Russia." Liu Huaqin said.

"In terms of investment, due to market access, national treatment and other aspects, Russia will also make some commitments. We can expect that there will be some improvements in the investment environment, thus forming a pattern of mutual promotion of trade and investment." said Zhang Jianping. This effect is two-way.

More importantly, since Russia's accession to the WTO, the laws and regulations of the entire foreign economic activity must be adjusted in accordance with the WTO rules and the requirements of the multilateral trading system, the legality and transparency of the law will be improved. China and Russia will be multilateral in the WTO. Under the framework of the trade system, we must all adhere to the same laws and systems and have more common language to better understand each other.