Van Beers C, Van Den Bergh JC (1997) A multi-country empirical analysis of the impact of environmental legislation on trade flows. Kyklos 50 (1): 29-46 Mountain Beach JH (1985) The gravitational equation in international trade: some microeconomic bases and empirical evidence. Rev Econ Stat 1:474-481 The critical variable of interest is trade policy and includes: Pentti (1963) Towards a general theory of international trade. Economiska Samfundets Tidskrift 16:69-77 More recently, with the opening of the economy, free trade agreements have been multiplied (Kawai, and Urata 2012; Bergsten 1996). For Grossman and Helpman (1993a), free trade agreements (FTAs) are a relevant trade policy, particularly for the least developed countries. Urata and Kiyota (2003) showed the positive effects of a free trade agreement with East Asia on the GDP and well-being of member countries. Rotunno (2016) found that countries are more likely to sign free trade agreements after the unexpected departure of their leaders, when political instability is high. Shujiro and Misa (2007) used the estimation of a gravitational equation to identify the impact of free trade agreements on bilateral trade flows, i.e. trade and diversion effects. The results of this analysis have shown that free trade agreements lead to trade agents and that the effect of trade diversion is limited.

Based on a well-known GTAP model, Qi and Zhang (2018) attempt to assess the economic impact of ChAFTA not only on the Australian and Chinese economy, but also on the rest of the world. The results show that China and Australia could benefit significantly from increased GDP growth rates, exports, factor prices and economic prosperity through full, if not partial, implementation of ChAFTA. On the other hand, the rest of the world could suffer from such a ChAFTA, because there will be some diversion effects of trade. This study examines the influence of trade policies on trade flows between Pakistan and its dominant trading model for 2006-2015. The results show the statistically significant correlation of trade policy variables with exports and imports. However, an expected sign of NTBj for the export model and COSTj for the import model has been identified. The authors explain that they have no competing interests. Disdier AC, Fontagné L, Mimouni M (2008) The impact of regulation on agricultural trade: evidence from the SPS and TBT agreements.