The Political Economy of International Trading Arrangements: A Survey

Robert Baldwin

Chapter 3 in Contemporary Economic Issues, 1998, pp 44-64 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract One of the most significant developments in the international trading system in recent years has been the increase in the number of regional trading arrangements and the expansion in the membership of existing agreements. For example, in the western hemisphere, the United States which had long followed a policy of not participating in such arrangements, formed free trade agreements with Israel in 1985, with Canada in 1988, and jointly with Canada and Mexico in 1993 — the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA members are now negotiating with Chile for its admission to the agreement and, at a 1994 summit of the leaders of most western hemisphere countries, it was decided to negotiate a free-trade arrangement among the countries of the North and South America by 2005. Another recent integration agreement in the western hemisphere is the customs union among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (MERCOSUR), which formally came into operation on 1 January 1995. Countries such as Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela are currently considering the possibility of joining MERCOSUR. Older regional arrangements such as the Central American Common Market and the Andean Group have also been revitalized to some extent in recent years.

Keywords: Custom Union; North American Free Trade Agreement; Trade Diversion; Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation; Regional Agreement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:intecp:978-1-349-26084-3_3

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DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-26084-3_3

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