RECENT FTA DEVELOPMENTS

• On April 7, New Zealand became the first developed country to enter into a free trade agreement (FTA) with China. The agreement will go into effect on October 1, 2008. Chinese duties will be phased out on New Zealand's dairy products over 12 years, on meat and kiwifruit in nine years, and on seafood and apples in five years. Almost half of New Zealand's exports are food and agricultural products.

• Japan and the Association of Southeastern Asian Nations (ASEAN) recently entered into an FTA. Under the agreement, approximately 90 percent of trade between Japan and the ASEAN block will be tariff-free by 2018. Japan is also interested in exploring a wider trade deal that would include the ASEAN member countries, Australia, China, India, New Zealand, and South Korea.

• Morocco and the Mercosur countries (i.e., Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) initiated their first round of FTA discussions earlier this month in Rabat. Increased bilateral trade between Morocco and Brazil over the past few years is the impetus between the negotiations.

• The European Free Trade Area (EFTA) (i.e., Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland) announced earlier this month that it will soon begin FTA negotiations with India. EFTA expects to conclude FTA negotiations with Columbia and Peru this summer, and the four-member trade block has been in FTA discussions with the Gulf Cooperation Council (i.e., Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) as well as Algeria.

6^th Update

April 16, 2008