These barriers if removed would help ease trade, but the cost as Mariani
et al (2014) points out is getting uniformity. The FDA in the USA has different regulations for its citizens
than the other national regulators for food and pharmaceuticals. This pertains to wine in that there are now
a diverse range of wines with grapes grown differently than regions are used to. It is further complicated
in WWTG an independant wine organization looking to standardize wine to allow for seamless trade isn’t
recognized by the WTO as being a standard. All WTO members have to conform to the WTO standards.
This complication is causing rising prices and for a slow dispersion of wine throughout the world.
Demand is still being met, but at the expense of welfare to the consumers of each participating country as
well as all countries looking to export. In investigating the non-tariff barriers on trade as percentage of
GDP, there is hope to determine the effect that these regulations and differing standards have on a free
exchange of goods.