NBER Publications by K.C. Fung

China's trade has three features: high incidence of re-exports through Hong Kong, high degree of trade related to foreign investment, and large amount of `illegal' trade. Re-exports occur when imports to Hong Kong are consigned to a buyer in Hong Kong, who adds a markup, and exports the goods elsewhere without fundamentally changing the goods. Using U.S. data and accounting for re-exports, the U.S.-China trade balance has to be lowered by 35 percent. Foreign investments in China accounted for 45 percent of China's exports. Foreign investments include foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign subcontracting. `Illegal' trade between China and Taiwan has been induced by Taiwan's `no direct trade' policy. Illegal trade such as smuggling and tariff evasion also affect China's trade with he...

We explore the relationship between trade adjustment subsidies and successful reciprocal trade liberalization. We consider economies that are faced with a periodic need to move resources out of a declining import-competing sector, and that are attempting to sustain cooperative but self-enforcing trade agreements in the face of these adjustment needs. If the limitations associated with enforcement of international trade agreements are sufficiently severe, trade adjustment assistance can facilitate reciprocal trade liberalization. We argue that this suggests a possible efficiency rationale for adjustment policies that treat resources differently when traded sectors are involved.