Partly due to the taking down of the barriers from tariffs by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO), technical barriers to trade (TBT) have become something crucial for developing countries’ exportation. This article studies the strategic approaches taken by Chinese lighter manufacturers when they were confronted with EU’s barriers from its lighter standardization. After a brief survey on shortcomings of WTO/TBT agreement and the manifestation of proliferation of TBT worldwide, this article studies the approaches taken by different Chinese lighter manufacturers, borrowing the terms voice, compliance and exit from World Bank chief economist Jaffe and his team. Finally, a model of approaches is generalized for relative exporters’ reference.
Global Trade and Customs Journal