• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.1-10
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• 2022

Digital trade rules are crucial in supporting the digital economy as the rules effectively reduce unnecessary trade barriers. This study introduces various approaches that major countries take regarding digital trade policies and rules. Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership has introduced comprehensive rules on e-commerce, including binding articles on the free flow of information, location of computing facilities, and source code. More recent e-commerce provisions or digital trade agreements cover wider range of issues, from cyber security, artificial intelligence, and data innovation to electronic invoicing and payments. Multilateral negotiations on digital trade rules, including the World Trade Organization E-commerce Joint Statement Initiatives and Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, are in progress. Thus, countries involved are expected to respond to new digital trade issues with long-term strategies considering domestic policy objectives.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.177-215
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• 2018

Trump's withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and his "America First" trade agenda ignite a second round of interest in mega-free trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific. Countries are evaluating alternative trade policy actions in a post-TPP era. Using national real GDP gains estimated by a modified GTAP model to construct "preference ordering" for 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations members and their six regional dialogue partners, this paper comes up with several policy-oriented findings. First, when multilateral agreements are not possible, countries are better off with a regional trading agreement than without one. Second, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is likely to have higher beneficial impacts than the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Third, for dual-track countries, implementing both agreements is better than each separately. Fourth, impacts of open regionalism are likely to be higher than those of a closed and reciprocal one. Going forward, this paper argues that countries should adopt a "multi-track, multi-stage" approach to trade policy.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.41-60
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• 2022

Purpose - The policy implications of free trade agreements have traditionally been a matter of debate among economists. The official signing of the Korea-China Free Trade Agreement provides economists with a quasi-natural experiment to analyze the FTA's policy effects. This article aims to more accurately understand the impact of Korea's FTA accession on the macro economy. Design/methodology - This study adopts the counterfactual method based on panel data to find common factors in the generation process of macro data to fit the counterfactual path, to accurately evaluate the effect of the macro policy. Findings - Our research results show that the signing of the Korea-China FTA has a relatively significant short-term positive effect on Korea's economic growth. On average, Korea's real GDP growth rate has increased by 2.1%. This study finds evidence in support of FTA signing not having a significant impact on Korea's GDP growth in the long run. Additionally, we evaluated the impact of the FTA on Korea's imports and exports and found that it had a significant positive impact in the short term, but the trade effect of the FTA is significantly affected by the external macro-environment. Originality/value - First, this study uses macro panel data at the national level to examine the impact of the Korea-China FTA on Korea, and more accurately describes the policy effect of the FTA. Second, our empirical results show that the Korea-China FTA policy impact is subject to occasional changes in the external environment, such as the geopolitical conflict (crisis) between Korea and China, and the US-China trade war. Finally, the analysis shows that the short-term effect of FTA is significant but the long-term is uncertain, which provides empirical evidence for the debate on whether joining FTA can promote national economic growth.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.279-309
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• 2016

The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a free trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries whose joint gross domestic products (GDPs) account for 36 percent of world GDP and whose mutual trade accounts for approximately 24 percent of world trade. As for most proposed free trade agreements (FTAs), trade economists have provided ex ante computable general equilibrium (CGE) estimates to predict the trade, employment, and real per capita income effects of this agreement, such as ITC (2016). This paper-intended to complement these studies-examines the potential impacts of TPP beyond such traditional CGE estimates, taking a broader economic, governance, and historical perspective. First, we contrast these traditional CGE trade and welfare estimates that treat all firms within an industry as homogeneous with more recent CGE analyses that allow firms' productivities to be heterogeneous. We show that the latter models' trade predictions are much more consistent with ex post empirical evidence of average trade effects of FTAs. Second, empirical evidence now strongly confirms the existence of FTA "contagion." We review this evidence and show that predictive models of the evolution of FTAs indicate that the TPP should be formed. With China now having formed 12 FTAs and negotiating five new ones (including a sixteen member Asia-Pacific FTA), the United States would likely face considerable trade diversion without the TPP. Third, we examine empirical evidence on the likely further economic growth implications of FTAs by reducing firms' uncertainty over trade relations and trade policies. Fourth, we examine empirical evidence on the additional impact of FTAs on consolidating democratic institutions in countries. The TPP would likely help consolidate some of the less mature democracies. Fifth, we examine empirical evidence on the reductions of conflicts (and enhanced peace) between countries owing to the formations of FTAs. We conclude the paper noting that the potential net benefits to member countries of the proposed TPP extend well beyond the real income gains to households based upon traditional CGE models.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.333-359
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• 2013

Two mega-regional negotiations are changing the landscape of Asia Pacific trade policy: an Asian track centered on ASEAN (the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership or RCEP), and a Trans-Pacific track centered on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) among 12 economies, including the United States, which Korea is expected to join. Modeling results suggest that both would generate substantial benefits for Korea and the global economy. From Korea's viewpoint, the agreements would establish new FTAs with China, Japan and smaller economies, improve the utilization of FTAs by permitting the regional cumulation of inputs, and help to upgrade some Korean FTAs to more rigorous standards. By participating in these agreements, Korea could also help to guide them toward inclusive, high-quality regional outcomes. As one of the region's most open and agile economies, Korea has a large stake in regional integration and would be well advised to pursue both tracks.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.215-251
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• 2014

This study explores the main causes that have led Japan to conclude an FTA with ASEAN. This paper appraises Japan-ASEAN relations and shows that closer relations between Japan and ASEAN have provided momentum for the launch of Japan's FTAs with ASEAN. Consequently, this paper explores the origins and progress of Japan-ASEAN FTA, as well as the strategies and initiatives embraced by Japan in its FTA negotiations with ASEAN. By examining the domestic, regional, and global factors that led to the launch of the Japan-ASEAN FTA, this paper concludes that the strategies adopted were primarily aimed at its main rival, China. The rivalry has resulted in both positive and negative consequences for East Asian Regional economic environment. The negative consequences include the creation of a "spaghetti bowl", which increases costs for Japanese firms operating abroad, and "slows down the progress of the creation of an effective single regional institution".

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.23-38
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• 2019

This article aims to explore ways to prevent disputes arising from 'Origin Procedure' under FTAs through 'advance ruling system'. To achieve the aims of this article, this paper examines advance ruling systems operated by Korea and the United States to implement the Korea-US FTA, and analyzes whether the systems are realizing the original purpose of preventing disputes in terms of legal certainty and accessibility. The results show that the advance ruling system for origin in Korea has the same high level of laws and institutions as that of the United States. However, it is necessary to further provide institutional support for staffs that operate the system, so that expertise knowledge can be consolidated and accumulated. Also the accessibility of the system requires improvements.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.42
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• pp.337-364
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• 2009

Trade remedy is the system that additional duty or import quantity restriction would be imposed on the import products, in case that unfair imports damage domestic industry or even proper import products damage significantly domestic industry. The system is secured by the act of unfair trade practice investigation & industrial damage remedy, tariff act, WTO agreement. Anti-dumping duty act is the system that duties are assessed with the equal or less amount of the difference between normal transaction price and dumping price, in case that the product imported under dumping price causes or may cause damages in domestic industry, or the development of domestic industry should be delayed practically. Recently, the problems related with anti-dumping duty imposed as the part of the trade remedy occur frequently. It is necessary to discuss whether the anti-dumping duty act is practically trade remedy which does comply with GATT regulations and WTO agreements as the criteria of international law and is in line with the intent of domestic act in the suffered country, or it does return to protective trade or reduce the protection of consumer. On the basis of this discussion, it would be difficult to impose the antidumping duty on industrial products in order to protect domestic industry, when considering the expected free trade agreements of Korea-US, Korea-China and Korea-Japan. In order to survive under the current severe competition of world trade market, companies should raise the competitiveness by themselves without relying on the current trade acts to provide with a certain protection. This thesis should bring those attentions.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.83-94
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• 2016

The primary purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of bilateral Free Trade Agreements on international trade volume of bulk shipment at the port of Busan in Korea using the Gravity Model. Most recently, the total of 15 Korea's FTAs have been enforced since Korea-Chile FTA in 2004 and more than 50 countries became member of Korea's FTAs. Therefore, aggregated trade volume of Korea's FTA members out of the total trade volume in Korea increased from 25% in 2011 to 67% in 2015. Five Korea's bilateral FTA members are concerned as experimental group while top 10 foreign countries base on trade volume of bulk shipment are applied to the model as control group and panel data was used in this study. According to the results, bilateral FTA, GDP and population have positive impacts on trade volume of bulk shipment at the port of Busan. On the other hand, distance between Korea and its trade partner has negative impact. In examining Hausman test and LR test, the random effect model is statistically more appropriate than the fixed effect model for this study.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.44
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• pp.239-255
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• 2009

The purpose of this article is to examine the Utilization of Umbrella Clauses in Investor-State Contract Disputes. To accomplish the purpose, this article analyzes the ICSID case of SGS v. Pakistan and SGS v. Philippines. Umbrella clauses have become a regular feature of international investment agreements and have been included to provide additional protection to investors by covering the contractual obligations in investment agreements between host countries and foreign investors. In particular, two recent ICSID decisions, SGS v. Pakistan and SGS v. Philippines, have brought to the forefront the question of whether the umbrella clause applies to obligations arising under otherwise independent investment contracts between the investor and the host State. In focusing on the SGS decisions, this article will give some useful guidelines to Government and Academia under currently prevailing environment of the Free Trade Agreement("FTA") in Korea.