Country Weighted mean applied tariff Brunei 0.0% Hong Kong (China) 0.0% Macao (China) 0.0% Singapore 0.2% Botswana 0.3% Chile 0.5% Laos 0.7% Mauritius 0.8% Australia 0.9% Albania 1%

Source: World Bank, 2018 data

Tariffs vs. Free Trade

When Adam Smith published "The Wealth of Nations" in 1776, international trade was largely defined by extremely restrictive import tariffs and quotas.﻿﻿ His influence has contributed to a consensus among economists that lowering barriers to trade encourages economic growth; that consensus was particularly strong among Western economists in the second half of the 20th century, leading to a general decline in tariffs around the world.

Many tariffs still exist, however, even among the most free-market countries. Japan, for example, favors its rice farmers through high import duties, and the U.S. does the same for its peanut farmers. Nor are tariffs the only variety of trade barriers: others include exchange controls, subsidies, fair trade laws, local-content requirements and quotas on imports and exports. Based on this broader view of trade barriers, the Fraser Institute compiled a ranking of countries based on openness to trade in 2017: