Countries by Binding coverage, primary products (%)
Six countries — Congo, Dem. Rep., Djibouti, Grenada, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, and Yemen — each achieve a binding coverage rate of 100% for primary products, meaning every relevant product line carries an enforceable bound tariff rate. At the other end, 100 countries in the 161-country dataset record exactly 0%. The gap between these two groups spans the full possible range of the metric.
Ranking 2022
Values shown in %.
Analysis
This metric measures the share of primary product lines for which a country has an agreed bound tariff rate in its WTO schedule of concessions. Binding coverage is the percentage of product lines with an agreed bound rate. Bound rates result from trade negotiations incorporated into a country's schedule of concessions and are thus enforceable. Primary products are commodities classified in SITC revision 3 sections 0-4 plus division 68 (nonferrous metals). Values are expressed as a percentage, where higher figures indicate greater coverage. The dataset covers 161 countries using World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator TM.TAX.TCOM.BC.ZS), with 136 of 161 countries reporting data for the reference year 2022, and 157 of 161 countries providing data from the last seven years. All 161 datapoints carry official data quality designation, and no extreme outliers were identified using a 3-standard-deviation threshold.
The top of the ranking is heavily concentrated. Six countries tie at rank 1 with 100% coverage. A further 22 countries rank joint 7th with 99.92%, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates. Another five countries at rank 29 record 99.85%, including Jordan, Kyrgyz Republic, and Venezuela. Kuwait at rank 34 scores 99.57%, and Afghanistan at rank 35 scores 99.55%. These high placements reflect near-complete binding of primary product lines within each country's schedule.
The middle of the ranking shows a steep descent. Ecuador at rank 40 records 93.53%, followed by Antigua and Barbuda at rank 41 with 89.21%, and Israel at rank 42 with 88.8%. Singapore sits at rank 43 with 85.61%. Coverage drops further through Viet Nam (rank 48, 80.2%), Sri Lanka (rank 49, 73.42%), and Zimbabwe (rank 50, 69.15%). The lowest non-zero values in the dataset are Mozambique at rank 61 with 52.86% and Bangladesh at rank 60 with 53.62%. Below rank 61, the dataset transitions abruptly to 100 countries all tied at rank 62 with exactly 0%, including large economies such as the United States, China, Germany, Japan, India, and the United Kingdom.
A key limitation is the large cluster of zero values: 100 of 161 countries record 0%, which may reflect genuine absence of bound rates for primary products, incomplete WTO schedule submissions, or differences in how coverage is calculated across country types. The metric captures only whether a bound rate exists, not the level of the rate or whether it is applied. Countries with 100% binding coverage may still maintain high applied tariffs. The 0% group includes both developed economies with comprehensive trade frameworks and least-developed countries, making the zero value difficult to interpret without additional context. Data recency is strong, with 97.5% of entries from the last seven years, but the 15.5% of countries lacking a 2022 observation introduces some temporal inconsistency.
Methodology
Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code TM.TAX.TCOM.BC.ZS, with a reference year of 2022. The metric is defined as follows: binding coverage is the percentage of product lines with an agreed bound rate. Bound rates result from trade negotiations incorporated into a country's schedule of concessions and are thus enforceable. Primary products are commodities classified in SITC revision 3 sections 0-4 plus division 68 (nonferrous metals). The dataset includes 161 countries, exceeding the 80-country coverage threshold. Of these, 136 countries report data for 2022 directly, and 157 of 161 report data from within the last seven years. All 161 datapoints are classified as official quality. No extreme outliers were detected at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. Average year-over-year change is 9.2%, well below the 50% volatility threshold. Values range from 0.00% to 100.00%, a spread of 100 percentage points. Higher values indicate greater binding coverage and are considered better outcomes under this metric.