Shaping Agricultural Imports: The Roles of Tariffs and Non‐Tariff Changes of China's RTAs

ABSTRACT Since joining the WTO, China has seen rapid growth in agricultural imports, accompanied by the signing of an increasing number of regional trade agreements (RTAs). This study aims to investigate how RTAs influence China's agricultural imports using HS 6‐digit level data on agricultural trade and tariffs between China and its 121 partner countries from 2002 to 2021, with a focus on disentangling the respective roles of tariffs and non‐tariff changes. The research finds that both tariffs and non‐tariff changes of China's RTAs significantly boost agricultural imports, with non‐tariff changes exerting a stronger effect, and the effects are larger for imports from developing countries. By product, tariff cuts broadly raise imports but are weak or even negative for sensitive cereals and animal products, whereas non‐tariff changes mainly facilitate imports in land, capital, and technology‐intensive and processed sectors, including horticultural and animal‐based products, where China lacks comparative advantages.