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Trade and Industry Department The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Brand Hong Kong - Asia world city

World Trade Organization
Non-agricultural Market Access Negotiation

A tariff is a financial charge in the form of a tax, imposed at the border on goods going from one customs territory to another.  Reduction of tariff would therefore enhance the competitiveness of imported goods and in turn benefit foreign manufacturers and exporters.  Consumers would also benefit from the lower price of imported goods.

Eight rounds of multilateral tariff negotiation held between 1947 and 1994 under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) have resulted in significant tariff reductions and increase in the number of “bound” tariffs for participating members (i.e. commit not to increase tariffs above a specific level).

Hong Kong, China's Tariff Commitments

Hong Kong does not apply any tariffs. As a result of our contributions to previous multilateral tariff negotiations, we have in 2023 bound 47.6% of our tariffs at zero (including all agricultural goods), covering about 74.4% of our imports in 2022 value.

The Doha Development Agenda

Hong Kong, China has been actively participating in new round of non-agricultural market access negotiation under the Doha Development Agenda of the World Trade Organization (WTO).  Accordingly, members have been negotiating on the reduction/elimination of tariffs and non-tariff barriers.  Please visit the WTO website for details of the status of the current negotiation.

Hong Kong, China's Negotiation Objectives on Non-agricultural Market Access

Given that Hong Kong does not impose tariff on imports, our objective for the multilateral negotiation on non-agricultural market access is to achieve significant market access improvements through substantial reduction and elimination of tariffs and non-tariff barriers of our trading partners, especially in product sectors of export interest to Hong Kong.

As Hong Kong is highly externally oriented and we impose no customs duties, any reduction in tariffs by other WTO members would benefit our exporters and manufacturers. Reduction of tariffs and increase in the number of “bound” tariffs would also make the world markets more open, predictable and transparent.