Purpose This paper aims to provide new evidence that the US phytosanitary regime is associated with a restrictive market access environment for fruit and vegetable products. One chief reason seems to be that the US regime uses a positive list approach, under which only authorized countries can export. Design/methodology/approach The methodology of the paper is primarily qualitative. This paper reviews the US sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) system and its scope for use to protect markets, in addition to protecting life and health. The approach is institutional and political economic. Findings For most products, only a portion of global production is authorized for export to the USA. Even among authorized countries, only a small proportion is actually exported. As a result, the number of countries exporting fresh fruit and vegetables to the USA is far lower than those exporting to countries like the EU and Canada, but it is on a par with markets known to be restrictive in this area, such as Australia and Japan. Using a data set of fruit and vegetable market access and political contributions, this paper also provides evidence showing that domestic political economy considerations may influence the decision to grant market access to foreign producers. Originality/value The US SPS system has not previously been analyzed in this way, and the distinction between negative and positive list approaches is highlighted in terms of its implications for third-party exporters. Similarly, the analysis of political contributions is novel and suggestive of an important dynamic at work in the determination of the US policy.

中文翻译：

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美国植物检疫限制：被遗忘的非关税壁垒

目的本文旨在提供新的证据，证明美国的植物检疫制度与水果和蔬菜产品的限制性市场准入环境有关。一个主要的原因似乎是美国政权采用了肯定列表方法，在这种方法下，只有授权国家才能出口。设计/方法/方法本文的方法主要是定性的。本文回顾了美国的卫生和植物检疫措施（SPS）系统及其在保护市场以及保护生命和健康方面的应用范围。该方法是制度和政治经济学。调查结果对于大多数产品，只有全球生产的一部分被授权出口到美国。即使在授权国家中，实际上也仅出口一小部分。因此，向美国出口新鲜水果和蔬菜的国家数量远少于向欧盟和加拿大等国家出口的国家，但与已知限制该地区的市场（例如澳大利亚和日本）相提并论。使用水果和蔬菜市场准入和政治贡献的数据集，本文还提供了证据，表明国内政治经济因素可能会影响授予外国生产者市场准入的决定。独创性/价值以前尚未以这种方式分析过美国SPS系统，否定列表方法和肯定列表方法之间的区别在其对第三方出口商的影响方面得到了强调。同样，对政治贡献的分析是新颖的，并暗示了在确定美国政策时起作用的重要动力。