Foreign trade is nothing but the main form of economic cooperation between different countries. And its regulation to some extent by the state takes place depending on the social, economic, political tasks in the country itself and the situation in the whole world.
The state regulates international trade unilaterally, that is, the instruments of this regulation are used by the government without consultation and coordination with the country's trading partners. Regulation can occur bilaterally, which means that different trade policy measures are agreed between countries that are trading partners. There is also multilateral regulation, that is, trade policy is regulated by various multilateral agreements.
Currently, non-tariff methods of regulating foreign trade and tariff methods are distinguished. The first include customs duties and tariffs. This is the main instrument of trade policy of any state and its legitimacy is recognized by international standards. The customs tariff has several definitions. The first is a tool used in trade policy and the regulation of the domestic market in the process of its interaction with the world market. The second definition is a set of different customs duty rates that apply to goods crossing the customs border. This set of rates is systematized in full accordance with the entire commodity nomenclature.
The tariff methods of regulating foreign trade, namely the customs tariff, consist of specific, clear rates of customs duties used for the purpose of taxation of exported and imported goods. Customs duty is a mandatory contribution, which is levied by the customs authorities when exporting or importing goods.
Non-tariff methods of regulating international trade are now actively used by the government of any state. Unlike customs tariffs, almost all of them are not very quantifiable and, as a result, are poorly reflected in statistics. Non-tariff methods of regulating foreign trade are financial, hidden and quantitative. The fact that they are not quantifiable allows different governments to use either individually or a combination of them to achieve their goals in trade policy. If non-tariff methods of regulating foreign trade (especially intensive quantitative) are used together with a liberal customs regime, then trade policy as a whole becomes more restrictive. Quantitative restrictions are the administrative form of non-tariff regulation of state trade, which is designed to determine the nomenclature and quantity of goods allowed for import and export. The government of a particular country may decide to apply quantitative restrictions on its own or based on their international agreements.
Quantitative restrictions have two forms: contingent or quota. This is practically the same, the concept of contingent is often used to indicate a quota that is seasonal in nature. Non-tariff methods of regulating foreign trade are also represented by licensing. It occurs through permits issued by state bodies to import or export goods for a specific period of time.
The methods of hidden protectionism also play a large role. They represent all kinds of barriers of a non-customs nature, which are erected by local and central state authorities on the path of trade.