Take note of trade barriers when trading in China

Since China’s accession to the WTO in 2001, tariff barriers have gone down quickly. As of November 2011, its average tariff has been reduced from the pre-accession level of 15.3% to 9.8%, which is one of the lowest among developing countries. Moreover, under the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, 97% of the products from Singapore now enter China duty-free. SMU Associate Professor of Law Henry Gao, who is also the Dongfang Scholar Chair Professor at Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade, advised SMEs on what the main trade barriers in China are and how Singaporean firms can tackle such trade barriers.