EU-Japan partnership could set new global standards

Subject EU-Japan cooperation. Significance Three agreements between the EU and Japan took effect this year after nearly eight years of negotiations. They create the worlds’ largest free trade area and largest area of ‘safe data flows’, and establish a strategic partnership promising increased cooperation in 40 fields. Impacts Japanese automakers and European farmers will be the greatest beneficiaries of the bilateral free trade agreement. The Strategic Partnership Agreement could pave the way for joint Japan-EU security operations. The Data Movement Agreement will facilitate international trade in ‘big data’. The agreements are in part an attempt to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Subject The EU-Ukraine trade agreement. Significance The delayed EU-Ukraine Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) will start in January. The accord is set to strengthen ties between the EU and Kyiv. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the ending of a free-trade zone with Ukraine, arguing that the new Kyiv-EU deal will harm Russia's economy. Also, in retaliation for Kyiv's participation in sanctions against Russia, the Kremlin has ordered an embargo against Ukraine food imports into Russia, which could cost Kyiv 300-600 million dollars per year. Impacts Ukraine will continue to reorient itself and sell food and products to other markets, such as Turkey and Israel. An influx of imports from the EU could prove a serious challenge to many local producers and thus should stimulate reforms. Termination of Ukraine trade with annexed Crimea from mid-January will weaken Kyiv-Moscow ties further.


2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-60
Author(s):  
Dennis D. Trinidad

The paper is a theoretical discourse on policy shift, defined as the turning point or threshold by which policymaking agents abandon old policy preferences in favor of new ones. It contends that policy shift is contingent upon two factors: (1) the nature of elite interests, and (2) exogenous pressures like world prices and economic crises. The dismantling of cohesive elite interests is essential before policy shift could take place. Exogenous pressures can help achieve this by altering the settings which define these interests. Specifically, the paper examines the liberalization of trade and investment in the Philippines as an episode of policy shift. In the 1980s, the sudden reversal of international prices of agricultural products forced many agrarian elites to abandon agriculture and shift to other more lucrative business ventures like services and manufacturing. In the process, they explored new areas of interest and formulated corresponding sets of policy preferences. Against this backdrop and under a new constitution, former President Fidel V. Ramos and his successors pursued liberalization. The trend toward further economic liberalization became irreversible due to the country’s commitment to international agreements such as the World Trade Organization, ASEAN Free Trade Area, ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement and the proposed Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement.


2011 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-64
Author(s):  
Guanyi Leu

This paper provides a diversification explanation in order understand the development of PTAs in Southeast Asia. I argue that an important reason why ASEAN states participate in PTAs has been to diversify existing trade ties and to reduce overdependence on a narrow range of export markets. Southeast Asian countries have formed PTAs with markets with which they had weak or unexplored economic relations, as demonstrated by three case analyses: the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) and the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (AJCEP). To maximise the economic gains and the diversification effects of PTA participation, ASEAN countries have pursued a strategy of strengthening economic unity while keeping external economic linkages as diversified as possible. Although East Asia, and especially China, was an important alternative market to reduce ASEAN's dependence on trade with America, ASEAN countries have also pursued PTAs with a number of other trading partners. This paper explains how PTAs have helped ASEAN states to develop more policy autonomy in their trading environment.


Subject The EU-Japan economic partnership agreement Significance The EU and Japan, which together account for 30% of global GDP, have reached a framework agreement on an economic partnership agreement (EPA), paving the way for the creation of the world's largest free trade area. The EPA involves high standards of trade liberalisation, comparable to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Impacts Japan will expand its traditional exports (autos and electronics), but also new 'star' products such as sake and green tea. The EU will benefit most from opportunities to export more agricultural goods, processed food and beverages. European auto and electronics makers and Japanese producers of food and agricultural products will face greater competitive pressure. The EPA will boost household consumption in both economies. EU-Japan cooperation on standard-setting may create challenges for developing countries in particular.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 180-204
Author(s):  
Lawrence Ngobeni ◽  
Babatunde Fagbayibo

Abstract In 2016, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) amended Annex 1 of the SADC Protocol on Finance and Investment (FIP) in order to remove investor access to international arbitration or Investor-State Dispute Resolution (ISDS). The recent formation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (T-FTA) are factors that will likely curtail SADC’s ability to regulate foreign investments. Both AfCFTA and T-FTA are supposed to have their own investment protocols. This means that SADC faces the loss of regulatory authority over foreign investments. The recent formation of the Pan African Investment Code (PAIC) has shown that some African Union (AU) Member States want to provide ISDS for their investors, while others including SADC Members States do not. This article intends to evaluate the lessons SADC can learn from other jurisdictions in terms of the effective regulation of ISDS.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-126
Author(s):  
Shumei Chen ◽  
Dandan Li

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to predict the likely economic effects of a free trade area (FTA) on both China and the United Kingdom (hereafter the UK). Design/methodology/approach Following literature review and trade relationship briefing, this paper uses the Global Trade Analysis Project simulation to predict the economic effects of such a FTA on both China and the UK. Findings The simulation results indicate that a China-UK free trade area (hereafter CUFTA) will bring more benefits than harm to both China and the UK, and achieving zero tariff or reducing technological barriers to trade (TBT) is mutually beneficial for both China and the UK, with the growth in GDP, economic welfare as well as import and export. Combining zero tariff and the reduction of TBT in exceptional departments is the most favorable way to improve the macroeconomic effects without bringing damaging effects on the comparative disadvantage industries such as transport equipment, chemicals industries for China and textiles and apparel industry for the UK. Originality/value After the UK voted to leave the European Union, CUFTA is put on the agenda by both the governments, yet there are fewer studies on CUFTA, with this paper being one of the early trials. Besides, based on the simulation results, some policy suggestions will be put forward for future negotiations and industrial policies’ adjustment.


2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
KERRY CHASE

The GATT treaty's loophole for free trade areas in Article XXIV has puzzled and deceived prominent scholars, who trace its postwar origins to US aspirations to promote European integration and efforts to persuade developing countries to endorse the Havana Charter. Drawing from archival records, this article shows that in fact US policymakers crafted the controversial provisions of Article XXIV to accommodate a trade treaty they had secretly reached with Canada. As a result, the free trade area exemption was embedded in the GATT–WTO regime, even though neither the Havana Charter nor the US–Canada free trade agreement was ever ratified. Theoretically, the case is an important example of how Cold War exigencies altered the policy ideas of US officials.


Significance However, the success of Akufo-Addo's second term could depend in large part upon effective economic diplomacy with regional and international trade partners now the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has become operational. Impacts Ghana will push for all African Union (AU) members to ratify the AfCFTA to secure its position as a regional hub. Economic plans may heighten existing social tensions within Ghana, notably Western Togoland, if growth is not shared equitably. More AU members will likely undertake full ratification of the AfCFTA to not be left outside of lucrative continental markets.


1993 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphna Kapeliuk-Klinger

On January 1, 1989, the State of Israel abolished the remaining customs duties and charges, having equivalent effect on imported products originating in the European Communities (hereinafter the Community), in accordance with the Free Trade Agreement (hereinafter the FT Agreement) concluded on May 11, 1975, between the Community and Israel.The FT Agreement, which sets out to create a free trade area in the territories of the contracting parties, was the result of the previously existing relationship between the Community and Israel, as well as the emergence of the Global Mediterranean Policy within the Community. The FT Agreement attempts to foster economic activity by promoting expansion of trade and cooperation in reciprocal areas of interest, thus creating fair competition and contributing to the development and expansion of world trade.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-48
Author(s):  
Janes Guratan Djermor ◽  
Ivan Yulianto

The ASEAN-India Free Trade Area (AIFTA) policy has been effectively run since January 1, 2010. It is time to evaluate its benefits for trade relations between its members, especially between Indonesia and India. Analysis of the effectiveness and benefits of AIFTA policy in this study uses the Gravity Model by calculating the variables of Indonesia's GDP, India's GDP, transportation costs, and AIFTA's policies enggaged in trade relations between Indonesia and India using data from first quarter of 2004 until first quarter of 2018. This research shows that implementation of AIFTA does not have any effect on trade between two countries since trade between them had already reaching normal level. This research wishes to give a better insight on policy taking, especially for ongoing and forthcoming trade agreement.


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