Impact of WTO Accession on the Bound and Applied Tariff Rates of Russia

In this paper we use ten-digit trade data that allow an accurate assessment of how the tariff structure of the Russian Federation will change as a result of the phased implementation of its World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments between 2012 and 2020 and how it has changed as a result of Russia's agreement to participate in a customs union with Kazakhstan and Belarus. WTO commitments will progressively and significantly lower the applied tariffs of the Russian Federation. Russian tariffs will ultimately fall to between 45 and 68 percent of their pre-accession levels, with the larger fall being on a weighted average, rather than an unweighted average basis. Nonetheless, bound tariffs will exceed applied tariffs for almost 1,500 tariff lines. Russia's commitments are not unusual, especially when compared to the transition countries that have acceded to the WTO.