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Trade bloc
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This SourceA trade bloc is a large free trade area formed by one or more tax, tariff and trade agreements. Typically trade pacts that define such a bloc specify formal adjudication bodies, e.g. NAFTA trade panels. This may include even a more democratic and participative system, as the EU and its parliament.
Particularly since the demise of most of the world's empires, a number of international— generally regionally based—economic blocs have been developed to promote trade between member states.
Several blocs also have stated or implicit political goals—notably the EU. Varieties of economic blocs include free trade areas, customs unions, single markets, and economic and monetary unions.
One of the first economic blocs was the German Customs Union (Zollverein) initiated in 1834, formed on the basis of the German Confederation and subsequently German Empire from 1871.
A trade bloc is established through a trade pact (or pacts) covering different issues of the economic integration.
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List of regional blocs
CLELIA CACHUCHA CHOLACentral European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA)
- full members: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia
- full members, non-sovereign entities administered by the United Nations: Kosovo
Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
- full members: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago
- full members, non-sovereign autonomous entities of the United Kingdom: Montserrat
- candidates for full membership: Dominican Republic (currently an observer)
- associate members, non-sovereign autonomous entities of the United Kingdom: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands
- candidates for associate membership: Netherlands Antilles (currently an observer)
Union of South American Nations (Unasur/Unasul)
- full members of MERCOSUR: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela
- full members of the Andean Community (CAN): Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
- full member, CAN associate member: Chile
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
- full members: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC)
- full members: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon
- partners as ECCAS members: Democratic Republic of the Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe
East African Community (EAC)
Southern African Customs Union (SACU)
- full members: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland
- partners as SADC members: Angola, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)
Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA)
- full members of the Agadir Agreement: Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia
- full members of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (CCASG/GCC): Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
- full members, other: Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Yemen
- candidate/s: Mauritania
- prospective members of the Agadir Agreement: Algeria
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
- full members: Canada, Mexico, United States of America
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
- full members: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam
- candidate: Timor-Leste
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
- full members: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
- candidates: China
GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development
- full members: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine
Eurasian Economic Community (EEC)
- full members: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
Pacific Regional Trade Agreement (PARTA or PIF)
- full members: Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu
- full members, non-sovereign autonomous entities of New Zealand: Cook Islands, Niue
- associate members: Australia, New Zealand
Central American Common Market (CACM)
Cooperation in the framework of the bloc currently stalled and status in light of DR-CAFTA is unclear- full members: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua
African Economic Community (AEC)
Under the umbrella of the African Union it is expected that ECOWAS, CEMAC/ECCAS, SACU/SADC, COMESA/IGAD and EAC will join into a common African Economic Community in 2019.Other states or entities
- Americas:
- Cuba: mostly isolated because of political system, possibility for CARICOM or CACM
- Greenland (non-sovereign autonomous entity of Denmark): left the EU in 1985; status regarding FTA and customs union is unclear.
- Panama: possibility for Unasur or CACM
- East Asia:
- Japan, South Korea: negotiations for cooperation in ASEAN Plus Three format, proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia (CEPEA) as part of the East Asia Summit
- Mongolia: currently little probability to join any bloc, possibility for EurAsEC and East Asia Summit
- North Korea: isolated because of political system
- West Asia:
- Armenia, currently little probability to join any bloc, weak EU links (European Neighbourhood Policy)
- Iran: problems with political system, relations with neighbours uneasy, but has possibility for SAARC
- Israel: isolated by its neighbours, European Neighbourhood Policy cooperation only
- Turkmenistan: self-imposed isolation, possibility for EurAsEC or GUAM
- Non-UN States:
- Taiwan: problems with status, cooperation at WTO level under the name of Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu
- Sahrawi Republic: member of the African Union, problems with status, possibility for Agadir and GAFTA
Comparison between regional blocs
| Activities | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional bloc | Free Trade Area | Customs Union | Economic and monetary union | Free Travel | Political pact | Defence pact | Other | |||
| Single Market | Currency Union | Visa-free | Border-less | |||||||
| EEA | EU | in force 2 | in force | in force | in force 1 | in force | in force (Schengen 1 and CTA 1) | in force | in force (NATO 1 and CFSP/ESDP 1) | ESA 1, Euratom |
| EFTA | in force | in force 1 | in force 1 | in force 1 | in force (Schengen treaty 1) | in force1 (EFTA Court EFTA Surveillance Authority) | in force (NATO 1) | ESA 1, Euratom | ||
| Common | in force1 | in force1 | in force1 | in force1 | in force (Schengen treaty 1) | in force (NATO 1) | ESA 1, Euratom | |||
| CEFTA | in force | in force | in force | in force | ||||||
| CARICOM | in force | in force | in force 1 | in force 1 and proposed common | in force 1 | proposed | proposed | |||
| Unasur/Unasul | MERCOSUR | in force | in force | in force | proposed for 2014 | |||||
| CAN | in force | in force 1 | in force | |||||||
| Common | proposed for 2014 4 | proposed for not after 2019 | proposed for 2019 | proposed for 2019 | in force | proposed for 2019 | ||||
| ECOWAS | in force 1, 3 | in force 1 | in force 1 and proposed for 2009 1 and proposed common | in force 1 | proposed | proposed | in force | |||
| CEMAC | in force | in force | proposed | in force | proposed | in force | ||||
| EAC | in force | in force | proposed for 2009 | proposed | proposed for 2010 | |||||
| SACU | in force | in force | proposed for 2012 | de-facto in force 1 and proposed common for 2016 | proposed | |||||
| COMESA | in force 1 | proposed for 2008 | proposed for 2025 | |||||||
| GAFTA | Agadir | in force | ||||||||
| CCASG/GCC | in force | in force | in force | proposed for 2010 | ||||||
| Common | in force | |||||||||
| CEFTA | in force | proposed | in force 1 | in force | in force | |||||
| NAFTA | in force | proposed | proposed | proposed | in force (NATO 1 Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America and NORAD) | Commission for Environmental Cooperation | ||||
| ASEAN | in force 5 | proposed for 2015 | proposed | in force | proposed for 2015 | proposed for 2020 | ||||
| SAARC | in force 6 | proposed | proposed | proposed | ||||||
| GUAM | in force | proposed | proposed | proposed | proposed | proposed | ||||
| EurAsEC | proposed | proposed | proposed | in force | in force 1 | |||||
| PARTA | in effect, proposed | in force1 | proposed | proposed | ||||||
| CACM | in effect7, proposed | proposed | proposed | |||||||
| AEC (for reference) | proposed for 2019 | proposed for 2019 | proposed for 2023 | proposed for 2028 | proposed for 2028 | |||||
2 involving goods, services, telecommunications, transport (full liberalisation of railways from 2012), energy (full liberalisation from 2007)
3 telecommunications, transport and energy - proposed
4 sensitive goods to be covered from 2019
5 least developed members to join from 2012
6 least developed members to join from 2017
7 status is unclear
See also
- Globalization
Notes
External links
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Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 09:46:07 PDT (GMT -0700)
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