Countries by Tariff rate, most favored nation, weighted mean, primary products (%)
Solomon Islands leads all 186 countries in this ranking with a weighted mean MFN tariff on primary products of 48.84%, more than double the rate of third-ranked Belize at 44.87%. At the other end, Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong SAR, and Macao SAR each record 0.00%. The 48.84-percentage-point spread between the top and bottom reflects the wide range of trade policy approaches applied specifically to primary commodity imports.
Ranking 2022
Values shown in %.
Analysis
This metric measures the weighted mean most favored nation tariff applied to primary products imports across 186 countries, expressed as a percentage. According to the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator TM.TAX.TCOM.WM.FN.ZS, 2022 data), weighted mean most favored nation tariff is the average of most favored nation rates weighted by the product import shares corresponding to each partner country. Data are classified using the Harmonized System of trade at the six- or eight-digit level. Tariff line data were matched to Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) revision 3 codes to define commodity groups and import weights. A higher value indicates a higher average tariff burden on primary product imports. The dataset covers 186 countries, with 180 of those (96.8%) having data from the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints classified as official-quality. The viability checks identified 15 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, and the data range runs from 0.00% to 48.84%, a spread of 999%.
The top of the ranking is led by Solomon Islands at 48.84% (rank 1), Bermuda at 45.12% (rank 2), and Belize at 44.87% (rank 3). Rwanda follows at rank 4 with 35.92%, and Barbados sits at rank 5 with 28.60%. Sub-Saharan African nations feature prominently in the upper tier: Tanzania (rank 6, 26.80%), Uganda (rank 7, 25.37%), Burundi (rank 9, 24.28%), and Chad (rank 10, 23.79%) all appear in the top 10. These high-ranking countries span small island economies, Caribbean states, and continental African nations, with values clustered in a range between roughly 20% and 49% in the top 20 positions.
The middle of the ranking shows considerable compression. Korea, Republic of appears at rank 38 with 14.97%, placing it between developing Caribbean nations and African economies. Switzerland ranks 55th at 11.68%, and Norway ranks 67th at 10.16%, both higher than might be expected for high-income economies. The United States sits at rank 153 with 2.49%, and all 26 European Union member states represented in the data share an identical value of 1.87%, each assigned rank 154. Australia (rank 180, 1.84%) and New Zealand (rank 181, 1.75%) fall just below the EU bloc, while Peru (rank 182, 0.70%) and Singapore (rank 183, 0.66%) precede the three countries at zero.
Several data limitations apply to this metric. The 2022 dataset shows that only 143 of 186 countries (76.9%) have data from the latest reference year, meaning the remaining countries reflect earlier periods and direct cross-country comparisons may be affected by different base years. The average year-over-year change of 29.7% indicates that individual country values can shift substantially between periods. The metric covers only primary products and does not reflect tariffs on manufactured goods or services. Weighted mean calculations depend on import share data, which can vary by reporting period and methodology. The 15 identified extreme outliers may reflect genuine policy differences, data irregularities, or structural features of small or atypical economies. Territories such as Bermuda (rank 2) and the Cayman Islands (rank 11) are included alongside sovereign states, which may affect comparability.
Methodology
Data are sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code TM.TAX.TCOM.WM.FN.ZS, reference year 2022. The metric is defined as follows: weighted mean most favored nation tariff is the average of most favored nation rates weighted by the product import shares corresponding to each partner country. Data are classified using the Harmonized System of trade at the six- or eight-digit level. Tariff line data were matched to Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) revision 3 codes to define commodity groups and import weights. The ranking covers 186 countries. Of these, 180 (96.8%) have data from the last seven years, and 143 (76.9%) have data specifically from 2022. All 186 datapoints are classified as official quality (100%). The viability checks identified 15 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold. The data range is 0.00% to 48.84%, representing a 999% spread. The average year-over-year change is 29.7%, below the 50% volatility threshold. The metric covers primary products only and does not account for tariffs on manufactured goods or services.