Free Trade Agreements in East Asia: A Forerunner to Multilateralism?

Since Australia’s first free trade agreement (FTA) with New Zealand in 1983, Bilateral and Multilateral FTA’s have been a great advantage and focus in securing economic prosperity for Australia. Australia’s two-way trade in goods and services was A$616 bn in 2012. Australia has seven FTAs currently in force with New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, US, Chile, ASEAN (with New Zealand) and Malaysia. Together, these countries account for 28% of Australia’s total trade, which displays the great benefit of bilateral FTAs to the Australian economy. Additionally, there are four bilateral FTA negotiations currently in place, two of which are substantial trading partners; China, being Australia’s largest export market (A$78.7 bn) and Japan, being Australia’s second largest export market (A$49.8 bn). The Japanese Free Trade Agreement has been negotiated, and will be a great benefit to the Australian economy, especially the agricultural sector, for example tariffs on beef

Three years after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) created the largest free trade area in the world, the debate rages on.

In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was enacted between two industrial countries and a yet still developing nation. This was an agreement that was the first of its kind due to the relationship that the countries had and the investment opportunities that it presented. The United States, Canada, and developing Mexico decided to work towards eliminating most tariffs and non-tariff barriers between the three in order to increase the flow of trade in goods and services. Since its enactment NAFTA has led to the providing of over 40 million more jobs throughout the countries, and it has also tripled merchandise trade between the three participants to an astounding $946 billion USD in 2008 (NAFTA Now). However even then it is still not very clear whether enacting NAFTA was worth the time and effort and in fact the United States may have been better off not having joined NAFTA.

After a lengthy negotiation of over 3 years, Canada, the United States, and Mexico reached an agreement on trilateral trade ― the North American Free Trade Agreement. Commonly referred to as NAFTA, it came into effect on the first day of 1994. Covering 450 million of population and reaching $17 trillion in combined GDP, NAFTA proudly ranks the first among the world’s free trade agreements (USTR). It is usually seen as a remarkable success for the countless benefits it brings to its members. Some of NAFTA’s main advantages are promoting closer relationships, eliminating trade barriers, and increasing market opportunities. However, as the first proposer of NAFTA, the United States has indeed benefited the most from it in several different

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.

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.

A partnership between Mexico, Canada, and the United States, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) created the largest free trade area in the world ("North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),” n.d.). Signed in 1992 by George H.W. Bush, the treaty was preceded by the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement signed in 1989 (Tuesday, 2008). The document received bipartisan support in both the House and Senate with Republicans providing the majority of votes in each (Kessler, 2016).

On “January 1994, the United States”, Canada and Mexico went into the “North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)”, making the biggest facilitated commerce region and wealthiest market on the planet. The “NAFTA” is the mainly complete provincial exchange ascension ever arranged by the “United States” and is booked to be completely executed. In “1996, U.S.” two-route exchange merchandise under the “NAFTA” with Mexico and Canada remained at “$420 billion a 44 %” expansion because the “NAFTA” was agreed upon.

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.

Since the end of the eighties and the beginning of the nineties, there has been a surge in the creation of trade agreements all over the world. The one encompassing the largest area and affecting the greatest number of people is the North American Free Trade Agreement (Text of the NAFTA, Organization of American States). The three major countries of North America signed this regional trade agreement in 1993: Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The North American Free Trade Agreement or the NAFTA, as it became popularly called, was an effort that was initiated by the United States. At first, there existed the CFTA agreement between the United States and Canada. Later the U.S.

Australia and China are negotiating the possibility of having a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The first round

The current biggest free trade blocs consist of the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The late 1980s and early 1990s marked an age of reform and liberalization in Mexico. After a long period of economic turmoil and isolation behind its borders, Mexico began to allow foreign capital and foreign direct investment (FDI) to flow into its economy, and the external debt that had been hanging over Mexico’s head since the 1982 balance of payments (BOP) crisis was finally restructured. With the signing of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on January 1, 1994, a trilateral trade bloc was created in North America between Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Foreign trade restrictions were eliminated and commercial agreements with other countries were negotiated, consolidating Mexico’s integration into international

Since the end of World War II and Cold War, the whole face serious problem as economic crisis, devastation on human capital and public goods, and world trade system. To remove the trade barrier and strengthen economic cooperation cross the border, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was established on 1 January, 1994 in order to remove all barriers to trade, promote fare competition in free trade area, and provide effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property right. Latter, WTO was established on 1 January 1995 that deals with the rule of trade between nations. South Korea is one of Asian Dragon that creates a lot of Free Trade Agreement with core economic countries. In February 2003, South Korea signed FTA with Chile

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