Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Essay

The Buying and selling, importing and exporting of goods and services, between two or more countries that have no limits or quotas or barriers or unbalanced tariffs is the dictionary definition for a free trade agreement (FTA). There are both advantages and disadvantages attached to FTA’s which is shown in figure 8.0.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, commonly known as the NAFTA, is a trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico launched to enable North America to become more competitive in the global marketplace (Amadeo, 2011). The NAFTA is regarded as “one of the most successful trade agreements in history” for its impact on increases in agricultural trade and investment among the three contracting nations (North American Free Trade Agreement, 2011). Supporters and opponents of the NAFTA have argued the effects of the agreement on participating nations since its inception; yet, close examination proves that NAFTA has had a relatively positive impact on the economies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

NAFTA increased the competitiveness of these three countries in the global marketplace. It allows them to better compete with China and the European Union. In 2007, the EU replaced the United States as the world's largest economy. In 2015, China replaced both. It took three U.S. presidents to put NAFTA together. President Ronald Reagan kicked it off during his campaign in 1980. He wanted to unify the North American market to better compete with the EU. In 1984, Congress passed the Trade and Tariff Act. That gave the president "fast-track" authority to negotiate free trade agreements. It permits Congress only the ability to approve or disapprove. Congress

Since 1993, China has experienced uninterrupted trade supplies and in 2013, China has overtaken the US as the world’s largest trading nation. As an economy highly integrated into the global trade system, the country benefited from a steady improvement in its term of trade since 2000. The country has multiple bilateral and multilateral trade agreements that opened new markets for its product. A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between China and ASEAN nations which came into effect in the beginning of 2010, created the world’s third largest free trade area in terms of nominal GDP. China established FTA with nations like Korea, Peru, Pakistan, Singapore and etc.

The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as well as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) were failures. The North American Free Trade Agreement was one of the most controversial documents of the 20th century, beginning January 1st 1988.1 The reason it was so controversial was because it was loved in some ways yet hated in others. One of the reasons why the FTA and NAFTA were failures is due to the fact that Prime Minister Brian Mulroney lost a lot of votes caused by the amount of voters that disapproved of the FTA and NAFTA. Another reason the FTA and NAFTA were failures is because the agreement did not improve the amount of full time jobs in Canada, which was one of the reasons that the FTA and NAFTA was created in the first place. The final reason the deal failed was because the deal was supposed to improve productivity around Canada but really did nothing. The FTA and NAFTA were failures because it only helped a small handful of Canadians and hindered many more.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, or N.A.F.T.A, was established to improve the economy of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. It has been close to twenty-three years since the treaty was officially signed; time has given us insight into the effects that this agreement has produced.

to name only a few. There has been much heated debate on the pros and cons

NAFTA was created to making trading easier and less expensive for the actors involved to export and import with one another. When it was first introduced, there were many negotiations and ramifications that took place. The premise for the negotiations and agreements was to make North America the most productive and richest market in the world and help in continuing economic growth within the countries. This however, has not been achieved and while it has contributed to cheaper goods for consumers there is still plenty to be done to create an agreement that will benefit all actors involved.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), started in January of 1994, created a situation in North America in which there are no taxes on most products imported and exported between the three countries. Ideally, the governments of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico believed that breaking the trading barriers would increase jobs and other things as it improved each of their economies. NAFTA, however, has not necessarily helped the economies in

Being the world 's largest economy, the United States is also largest exporter and importer of goods and services. American economic growth relies heavily on trade. According to a recent report on NAFTA, “Since 1992, nearly 20 million new jobs have been created in the U.S., in part due to the 1994 NAFTA agreement. Total trade between the NAFTA partners -- the U.S., Canada, and Mexico -- rose from $293 billion in 1993 to more than $475 billion in 1997, and has increased since. ” (Bowman, Free Trade). It is obvious evidence that international trade is beneficial to the US economy, at least in the 1990s.

The original and main goal of the WTO is to remove trade barriers between countries, which is a major idea

Free trade areas, FTA, are economic integration arrangements in which barriers to trade (e.g. tariffs), exchange of goods and information among member nations are removed. It is arguable to say that fair trade aims to create equilibrium between LEDC's, less economically developed countries and developed nations in terms of trading activities and ethics. In saying this, free trading between more economically developed countries and LEDC's will mean

In 1994, the leaders of the thirty-four democratic countries of the Western Hemisphere launched the process of creating a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The FTAA will be established by 2010 with the aim of gradually eradicating barriers to trade and investment in the region. The final characteristics of the FTAA will be determined through negotiations by government officials from the thirty-four participating countries. The trade issues that are presently under discussion are: market access; investment; services; government procurement; dispute settlement; agriculture; intellectual property; antidumping, subsidies and countervailing duties; and competition policy. Guiding principles for these negotiations

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a global organization that helps countries and producers of goods deal fairly and smoothly with conducting their business across international borders. It mainly does this through WTO agreements, which are negotiated and signed by a large majority of the trading nations in the world. The purpose of the WTO is to ensure that global trade commences freely, smoothly and predictably while also aiming to create economic peace and stability in the world through a multilateral system. This is based and applied to member states, currently 162 countries, that have consented and ratified the rules of the WTO in their individual countries. Simply put, these documents act as contracts that provide the legal framework for conducting business among nations, integrating into a country 's domestic legal system, therefore, applying to local companies and nationals in the conduct of business internationally. For instance, if a company were to open an office or business in a foreign country, the rules of the WTO dictates how that can be done.1

From Albania to Zimbabwe, many countries have become involved in the World Trade Organization over the years. Any state or customs territory having full autonomy in the conduct of its trade policies may become a member of the WTO, but all WTO members must agree on the terms. This is done through the establishment of a working party of WTO members and through a process of negotiations. All members have joined the system as a result of negotiation and the membership means a balance of rights and obligations. They like the ideas that other members give to them and the security that the trading rules give in. In return, they had to make understandings to open the markets and to go by the all the rules. Those commitments were the outcome of the membership decisions. Countries going through membership are WTO observers. Article XII of the WTO Agreement says that joining to the WTO will be on terms to be agreed between the government and the WTO. Joining the WTO is a process of negotiation, slightly different from the process of joining other international trades.