The growth of globalisation over the past 50 years is something the world has never seen before. Globalisation has sourced from the developments of our technology, to be more specific our way of communication. Today, the internet and our mobile phones allow us to contact people on the other side of the world. Despite globalisation providing benefits to people, it has led to growth in popularity for protectionist policies. The Brexit vote would be the clearest example.

When looking at all the countries in the world it’s easy to notice a pattern where the more developed countries have lower trade tariffs but, this isn’t the same for undeveloped countries, they tend to have higher trade tariffs on imports.

The World Economic Forum released the Global Competitiveness Report on the state of the world’s economies. The report used international trade tariffs as one factor in their report.

So what are the top 10 international trade tariffs?

10 – Barbados: 14.2% – Barbados is a full member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and as such, has implemented CARICOM’s Common External Tariff for goods, with import duties ranging from 0 – 20%.

9 – Gambia: 14.3% – Gambia is a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Gambia has four tariff bands, and they are as follows: 0 percent for basic social goods, 5 percent for raw materials, capital goods, and specific inputs; 10 percent for intermediate goods; and 20 percent for final consumer goods.  There are a 1.55 percent processing fee and an ECOWAS levy of 0.5 percent on all imports.

8 – Chad: 14.3% – Like other CEMAC countries, i.e. Gambia, they have the same international trade tariffs.

7 – Cameroon: 14.6% – Cameroon has an import tariff range of 10-30% of most goods.

6 – Zimbabwe: 14.6% – You must obtain an export licence to export any controlled goods from the UK to Zimbabwe. These are issued by the Export Control Organisation.

5 – Pakistan: 16.6% – Import tariffs in Pakistan range from 0 to 35% for most goods.

4 – Nepal: 16.8% – One fifth of Nepal’s tax income comes from its custom duty.

3 – Sri Lanka: 17.6% – Most of the imports are charged a 15% levy when entering Sri Lanka. However, some imports have been hit a 100% on their customs duty.

2 – Bhutan: 22.7% – Sometimes Bhutan levies the tax on foreign goods up to 100%.

1 – Iran: 28% – Iran’s biggest export is oil, now that the US has started to lift sanctions. However, their import tariff rates range from 10% to 100%.

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