Who Is the Least Protectionist Country in the World?

This is from Inside US Trade:

[Commerce Secretary Wilbur] Ross objected to the “protectionist” label that critics of the Trump administration have attached to U.S. trade actions and rebutted the idea that China could pick up the mantle and be a leader on free trade policy.

“The Chinese have for quite a little while been superb at free trade rhetoric and even more superb at highly protectionist behavior,” Ross said. “But I think you have to separate the language from the activities. Every time the U.S. does anything to deal with a problem, we’re called protectionist. But I’d [ask] the panelists: Who do you think the least protectionist country in the world is if it’s not the U.S.?”

None of the other panelists -- World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevêdo, BusinessEurope President Emma Marcegaglia, Cargill CEO David MacLennan and UK Standard Chartered Bank CEO Bill Winters -- raised their hands.

I'll raise my hand here. Looking over the WTO/ITC/UNCTAD World Tariff Profiles from 2017, I see the U.S. with a simple average MFN applied tariff rate of 3.5%. As is well-known, Singapore and Hong Kong come in at 0%, but of course those are small city-states, so maybe that's a different category. Among larger countries, New Zealand at 2% and Australia at 2.5% also beat the U.S. Measuring the protectionism from domestic regulations is more complicated, but I would be surprised if the U.S. is less protectionist than Australia or New Zealand with regard to regulatory measures.