Commentary

Friction Is the New Tariff: Mauritius and the Quiet Opportunity in the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement

The cost of trade increasingly sits in delay, uncertainty, duplication and incomplete institutional coordination.

Cover of Friction Is the New Tariff: Mauritius and the Quiet Opportunity in the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement

The cost of trade increasingly sits in delay, uncertainty, duplication and incomplete institutional coordination.

Friction is cumulative

One unclear form, duplicate check or uncertain decision may appear minor. Across a shipment, the cumulative effect becomes cost, delay and working-capital exposure.

Measure the journey

Improvement starts by mapping the trader's complete path across agencies, systems, documents and decisions rather than optimising one institutional silo.

Govern the interface

Digitalisation helps when responsibilities, data definitions, exceptions and service levels are also governed. A new screen cannot repair an unclear decision right.


Migration noteRepresentative static content; final text and references require migration QA.

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The Island of Due Diligence

Mauritius should compete where trust has economic value - through documentation, reliability, institutional clarity and disciplined execution.