Of course, consumers knowing the country of origin of Toyota vehicles have done little to harm the dominance of that car over traditional American manufacturers like GM and Ford. But in some instances, if a particular nation has received bad press regarding its labor practices, mandatory labeling as an imported good might act as an additional invisible trade barrier. Also, if a nation is being subject to a particularly damaging round of international publicity regarding other aspects of its international policy, this may lead to a boycott of the nation's goods, and thus invisible tariffs can be constructed through simply the apparently innocuous policy of labeling nation's country of origin, in the supposed interest of consumer information.

Works Cited

Fliess, Barbara Carlos Busquets "The Role of Trade Barriers." OECD Trade Policy

Working Paper No. 45. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2006. 7 Mar 2007. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/34/25/37872326.pdf

Jennings, Horace. "Brazilian trade...
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