User:Carissa1985

Trade Barriers

Jordon is located southwest of Asia on desert plains, surrounded by Israel, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. They established their independence in 1946, gaining the name Jordan in 1950. Jordan began to participate in the European Trade Association in 2001, after they acceded to the World Trade Organization in 2000 (CIA). During the 1990s, Jordan’s performance was below its potential. From 2000 to 2002, Jordan achieved above expectations in terms of attracting FDI but its performance in 2001 and 2002 was mainly a result of the September 11 attack. As performance lacked it’s potential in 2003 in answer to expectations of a war in Iraq. Jordan became the only viable outlet for Iraqi imports and reconstruction efforts and the home of nearly 700,000 displaced Iraqis. In the aftermath of the Iraq War, FDI took off again and performance exceeded all expectations in 2004 and 2005. Regional events dictated the FDI inflows, in spite of the country’s seemingly unchanged potential for attracting FDI (Barriers). Even though by 1999 Jordan was well into its economic reform, it was not performing at potential in terms of FDI inflows. Most reforms focused on macroeconomic frameworks (stability of the Jordanian dinar, increasing foreign reserves, liberalizing trade, reducing foreign debt, streamlining the budget, and reducing the budget deficit), rather than microeconomic adjustments to directly enhance the productivity of labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. As a result, the climate necessary for fostering FDI did not emerge during the reform process(Barriers)

Jordan currently imports 4.7% of it’s goods from the US (CIA). Certain non-tariff barriers impact US exports to Jordan. Jordan selectively imposes sanitary measures on fruits, vegetables, and beef to effectively create non-tariff barriers on imports of these products. Last year Jordan banned the importation of beef and live bovine animals after the BSE in Alabama broke out. Today their exports consist of clothing, fertilizers, potash, phosphates, vegetables, and pharmaceuticals, consisting of $6.521 billion. Imports include crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, iron, and cereals in the amount of $15.65 billion (CIA).

Sources

www.freetheworld.com 4 Overcoming Barriers to Foreign Direct Investment in Jordan https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/