Nontariff Barriers to High-Technology Trade

This book describes European and Japanese nontariff barriers (NTBs) in areas of high-technology trade and discusses their impact on the international behavior of U.S. firms. This study was prompted by the rising incidence of nontariff measures in high-technology sectors, as governments increasingly attempt to promote the growth of new industries through various domestic subsidy policies and import protection. As applied in high-technology sectors, protectionism typically includes discriminatory government procurement, incompatible standards and product certification procedures, performance requirements, import licensing, and a failure to protect intellectual property. The authors use case histories to explore the incidence and impacts of these nontariff measures. Impacts are described in company-specific terms and include, for example, company efforts to redeploy research and development activities within the protected market, thus stimulating increased transfer of technology; alteration of product characteristics and the direction of research and development to satisfy local specifications; joint venturing with local partners, as well as with larger U.S. firms with an established market position; and abandoning the market entirely. The book includes a number of policy recommendations designed to reorient international trade negotiations toward the wide range of nontariff barrier impacts and the particular difficulties that smaller firms have in dealing with import restrictions.