How Chinese enterprises respond to the “green trade barriers”

With the development of economic globalization, more and more countries to enter the World Trade Organization, international trade exchanges between more and more, the impact of global trade is no longer high standards, high tariffs, but by countries increasingly pay attention to the environmental reasons, green trade barriers also emerged here, has become one of the important reasons for countries to deal with foreign trade.

The concept of green trade barriers

Green Trade Barriers (Green Trade Barriers), also known as Environmental Trade Barriers (ETBs), refers to measures taken directly or indirectly to restrict or even prohibit trade in order to protect the ecological environment. Green barriers are usually import and export countries to protect their ecological environment and public health and set a variety of protective measures, regulations and standards, etc., is also a technical trade barriers to import and export trade impact. It is a kind of international trade in the name of protecting limited resources, the environment and human health, through the deliberate development of a series of harsh, higher than internationally recognized or the vast majority of countries can not accept the environmental standards, to restrict or prohibit the import of foreign goods, so as to achieve the purpose of trade protection and trade barriers set.

The current status of green trade barriers

1、Green trade barriers are used more and more frequently and have become an important trade measure

Since the 1990s, China’s main export markets are the United States, Japan, the European Union and other developed countries and ASEAN, South Korea and other emerging industrial countries, but these countries have strong financial and technical strength, and most of them are members of the WTO “Trade and Environment Committee”, so they are more willing to green trade barriers to restrict China’s exports. Therefore, if our export products cannot meet these strict standards, we will lose a large piece of the market, thus affecting the amount of our exports.

2、Green trade barriers are designed in an increasingly wide range of areas

On the one hand, green trade barriers involve many fields such as environmental protection, human health, animal safety, biodiversity, etc. On the other hand, the period of the objects governed by green trade barriers is also getting longer and longer. Not only the green requirements for the products themselves, but also the high requirements for environmental protection in transportation, packaging and after-sale.

The impact of green trade barriers on China

1、Positive impact

Green trade barriers as a non-tariff barriers, most of them are initiated by developed countries to developing countries, although it hinders the rapid development of international trade, but for the global environmental protection and ecological balance, has played a positive role in promoting, to ensure the economic development at the same time, pay more attention to environmental protection.

(1) International green trade barriers not only make our citizens’ awareness of environmental protection greatly enhanced, but also play a warning role to various enterprises, and at the same time make our country take effective measures to actively curb the reason of environmental deterioration, through the use of green trade barriers to restrict the entry of environmentally harmful goods into our country, in order to protect human health and improve the physical quality of the nation.

(2) Due to the emergence of green trade barriers, China’s export enterprises are also indirectly required to improve their technical level, change their production methods and develop non-polluting goods that meet the regulations of international environmental protection organizations.

(3) Green trade barriers are one of the important weapons to maintain national security. Environmental pollution and ecological destruction are the culprits that damage the survival of human beings, especially the global environmental reasons, which affect the development of human beings in the world, therefore, environmental security is a worldwide reason, and the emergence and implementation of green trade barriers have made a great contribution to the world environmental security.

2、Negative impact

(1) Affect the development of trade in China. As China has long been in the ranks of developing countries, green trade barriers are mostly carried out by developed countries to developing countries, developed countries each year for China’s foreign trade export industries such as agricultural products, food, mechanical and electrical products, such as the total amount of exports, export markets, export range, export growth rate, export efficiency, etc. have a greater conflict.

(2) increased the cost of enterprise exports. As most of the green trade barriers to environmental protection and environmental monitoring, environmental standards in the form of, so most of China’s enterprises do not have the same level of production, must increase investment, technical transformation, improve product quality, but also increase the part of the inspection, testing and supervision means, coupled with China’s products in the packaging above and developed countries, the gap is large, but also requires enterprises to spend a lot of energy to Improve, therefore, the costs will be significantly increased, production costs will also increase, resulting in China’s exports in international trade price competitiveness is not strong.

China’s strategy to deal with green trade barriers

1, change the concept of marketing, green marketing

Green marketing refers to the business strategy development, market segmentation and target market selection, product production, pricing distribution and after-sales service to meet people’s green consumption needs, fulfill the responsibility and obligation of environmental protection, in order to achieve the harmonization of their own interests and the overall interests of society’s business activities. Actively carry out green marketing is the ultimate road for Chinese enterprises, in line with the trend of “return of environmental protection”, adapt to the international environmental protection policy, is conducive to enterprises to break through the green trade barriers, enter the international market, and occupy the international market.

2、Strengthen green technology innovation, break through green barriers with technological innovation

Green technology refers to the technology, process and products that can reduce environmental pollution and the use of raw materials and resources. Enterprises for green technology innovation on the one hand to vigorously develop the use of renewable energy, avoid the use of non-renewable energy and rare resources, in the production process and after the use of products that do not endanger or reduce the harm to human health and ecological environment; on the other hand, green process innovation, in the production process of a wide range of clean process technology and end of governance technology.

3, the implementation of green packaging, highlighting the green image of enterprises

Green packaging refers to harmless, less polluting, in line with environmental requirements, after use can be recycled or can be naturally degraded packaging. Enterprises in the production of packaging, we should focus on the embodiment of environmental protection and green, which can highlight the importance of enterprises in human health, in the world atmosphere that attaches importance to environmental protection, green packaging is increasingly favored by consumers in all countries.