Hidden cost of spiralling non-tariff measures in International Shipping News 16/05/2026 W hile the world’s attention is today fixed on the return of protectionist duties, a more surreptitious and costly shift is undermining the global trade landscape. According to the latest Global Trade Update from UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), friction in modern trade is no longer found solely at customs desk but within complex and often opaque non-tariff measures (NTMs). The update – Invisible Barriers: The Costs of Non-Tariff Measures, sees a new regime of “interventionism” replacing trade liberalisation. This has been driven by the lingering shocks of the COVID19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the 2025 US tariff hikes. This shift sees major economies moving toward “a more distortive use of trade policy to pursue industrial policy objectives, strengthen supply chain resilience and address national security concerns”, said the report. For the first time in decades, notes UNCTAD, tariffs are moving upward across the board. In 2025, global tariffs on exports rose by 10% for developed nations, 16% for developing nations, and 18% for the world’s least-developed countries (LDCs). However, even with this resurgence of traditional protectionism, UNCTAD’s data reveals that non-tariff measures continue to impose higher costs on exports for 88% of all countries. These measures, ranging from technical product standards to environmental regulations, now dictate the flow of goods more than taxes ever could. The burden of this transition is not being shared equally. Smaller developing nations and LDCs find themselves caught in a “double burden” where they face both rising tariffs and astronomical compliance costs. UNCTAD researchers found that LDCs lose approximately 10% of their exports to G20 markets simply because of their “inability to comply with NTMs compared with other developing countries”. This gap is exacerbated by a lack of domestic infrastructure, such as accredited laborat