From the Editor

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the third issue of The International Trade Journal (ITJ)’s thirty-fourth volume. This issue includes articles on climate smart goods in the Middle East and North Africa, how the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) affected trade in Oceania, the links between tourism and trade in North America, and non-tariff barriers to exporting in Guyana.

The first article, by Sayed Saghaian, Hanane Ashasafari, Milad Aminizadeh, and Andisheh Riahi, looks at trade in climate smart goods in the Middle East and North Africa.¹ The authors find that GDP, trade openness, real exchange rates, and import prices affect exports and imports of solar photovoltaic goods in the region. They also find strong evidence of spatial effects. Solar photovoltaic imports and exports in one country affect the solar photovoltaic imports and exports of neighboring countries in the region.

The second article, by Gil Montant, looks at how membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and PICTA affects trade between countries in Oceania.² The article finds that membership in these organizations does not always increase trade between these countries. Countries in Oceania that belonged to the WTO or PICTA traded less, not more, than countries that did not. Trade between countries in the region only increases when the two countries belong to both organizations (PICTA and the WTO). This suggests that belonging to both organizations boosts trade, while belonging to only one seems to reduce trade.

The third article, by Sendar Ongan and Ismet Gocer, looks at the relationship between international trade and tourism between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. They find bidirectional links between trade and tourism in the region. Their results suggest, however, that tourism affects trade more than trade affects tourism.

The final article, by Dianna DaSilva-Glasgow, looks at barriers to exporting in Guyana. Based on a survey of 74 Guyanese firms that export food and agricultural goods, she finds that the transaction costs associated with exporting food and agricultural goods are mostly low to medium. Based on the theoretical literature on transaction costs, she looks at seven factors that might affect transaction costs. Using confirmatory factor analysis, she narrows the list to three main factors that define the latent construct of transaction costs: clarity of regulations, delays, and information costs.

As usual, we would like to thank the people without whom the ITJ would not succeed. We would like to thank the authors who contribute their articles, the anonymous referees who give detailed and timely comments, the team at the International Trade Institute at Texas A&M International University who process submissions quickly and efficiently, our Editorial Board who guide the journal, and our publisher, Taylor and Francis, who ensures the ITJ keeps its high standards.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Dinda (2014) looks at trade in climate smart goods in Asia.

² Several recent articles in the ITJ look at other free-trade agreements. These include Kaitibie and Rakotoarisoa (2017), Wang (2016), Rahmouni and Debbiche (2017), and Nguyen (2014).