Market access
Topic: International Trade Policy, WTO and Intellectual Property · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 3 "Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation: An Appraisal"
Meaning
Market access is a country's ability to sell its goods and services in other countries' markets. Tariffs, quotas and non-tariff barriers such as strict standards all reduce it. Widening market access is a core WTO promise, through removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers. Class 11 records a long-standing complaint: developing countries are "forced to open their markets" but are "not allowed access to the markets of developed countries".
Example
India's services exporters depend on Mode 4 access, the temporary movement of professionals abroad. That access shrinks when rich countries raise visa fees or set caps, such as higher US H-1B fees. For goods, the US withdrawal of India's GSP benefits in June 2019 reduced Indian exporters' access to the US market.
Don't confuse with
- Trade openness: openness measures how much a country itself trades, as (exports + imports) ÷ GDP. Market access is about how freely a country can sell into others' markets.
Related concepts
- Multilateral trade agreements
- Rule-based trading regime
- Multilateralism
- Plurilateral agreement
- Non-discrimination principle
- Most-favoured-nation principle
- National treatment
- Exceptions to MFN
- Enabling clause
- Generalised System of Preferences