• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.72
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• pp.139-160
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• 2016

Using the gravity model, this paper analyzes empirically how the world trade in goods is affected by regional trade agreements(RTAs) which have been spreading rapidly since the mid-1990s. This paper attempt to do the panel data analysis about 174 countries during the period of 1994-2008. These panel data include 157 RTAs. It is meaningful that this paper uses comprehensive data to analyze the net effect of regional trade agreements on the global trade volume. This provides a clue as to the answer to the stumbling block debate raised early in the regional trade agreement. Also, confirming how the participation of the WTO affected the trade volume among the member countries, the WTO-related dummy variables are additionally introduced to this gravity model. And as far as we know, the state system-related variables is first considered in this model. This variable reflects the social and cultural environments of countries as the proxy variable representing the sociocultural homogeneity. In all regressions, joining to the WTO and consistency of the state system have a positive effect on increasing the trade volumes between countries. According to the analysis of RTA trade effects, RTAs, on average, increase the volume of trade within the RTA region by 27%~37%, and decrease the volume of trade between the regional and the non-regional nation by 1.2%~3.4%.Therefore, the net effect of regional trade agreements on the promotion of global welfare is positive. For robustness check, we also introduce the interaction term of the dummy variable which reflects the RTA tightening and the continuous variable which reflects the distance effect. As a result, the RTAs alleviate the trade-decreasing effect which is caused by the distance between the countries.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.117-137
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• 2012

The objective of this article is to examine the characteristic features of contemporary policy-led regionalism in Asia. It identifies the positive and negative features associated with the free trade agreements that have proliferated in Asia during the first decade of the $21^{st}$ century. There has been a marked transformation in Asia's regional architecture in a short span of a decade-and-a-half. The mode and conduct of multilateral trade has been significantly transformed during recent years and Asia could not possibly remain immune to this transformation. The importance of regionalism in multilateral trade has increased steadily. In addition, the trade-investment-services nexus has developed and grown increasingly important. As business firms now manufacture parts of their products across the border, bilateral trade agreements (BTAs), regional trade agreements (RTAs) and free trade agreements (FTAs) of the contemporary period need to take into account the new kind of trade barriers that have been created due to the changing mode of trade. The contemporary regional agreements need to be designed to facilitate the new modes of conducting business and trade. It was understood rather late in Asia that the 'WTO-Plus' FTAs are more functional and result-oriented than their predecessors.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.39-60
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• 2021

Despite the fast growth and rising importance of digital trade, there still exists no multilateral agreement governing digital trade. Significant differences in policy directions regarding key digital trade issues among the U.S., EU and China are the main stumbling blocks for reaching agreement on the multilateral front. To overcome this deficiency in digital trade rules, there has been active movement among mainly countries in the Asia-Pacific region for rule-making on digital trade. Starting with the CPTPP chapter on E-Commerce in 2018, there has been a series of digital trade rules agreed in bilateral or plurilateral formats, such as the USMCA, USJDTA, DEPA, DEA and RCEP. Korea is currently only member of RCEP, which contains an e-commerce chapter with lower levels of commitment as compared to other digital trade agreements. This paper provides a broad analysis of the recently concluded digital trade agreements, comparing the different coverage of rules, levels of commitment, and rules templates. The analysis aims to provide implications for the desirable direction of rule-making on digital trade and Korea's digital trade strategy.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.385-415
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• 2013

Inter-regional free trade agreements (FTAs) - notably between Asia and Latin America - are growing in numbers and complexity. There is an absence of an agreed methodology for empirical assessments on the content of FTAs and little research. This paper proposes a framework to assess liberalization in FTAs in goods and services and new trade policy issues relating to regulatory barriers. Next, it applies this framework to studying the 22 Asia-Latin America FTAs in existence. The findings suggest that Asia-Latin American FTAs have laid the foundations for inter-regional integration by liberalizing the trade in goods and services and reducing some regulatory barriers. Deepening FTAs and adopting structural reforms will enhance Asia-Latin American integration in the future.

• 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.20 no.4
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• pp.447-467
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• 2016

The RTAs with trade facilitation provisions have been expected to generate a larger net trade-creating effect and complement the discriminatory feature of RTAs but have yet to be empirically proven. Recognizing the limitations of existing studies, we conducted a quantitative analysis on the effects of RTAs with and without trade facilitation provisions on both intra- and extra-bloc trade by using a modified gravity equation. We applied the Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimation with time varying exporter and importer fixed effect method to panel data consisting of 45,770 country pairs covering 170 countries for 2000-2010. We found that the trade facilitation provisions in existing RTAs are non-discriminatory by generating more intra- and extra-bloc trade in general. In particular, we found that the trade effects of RTAs in the APEC region are much stronger than the general case covering all RTAs in the world. In addition, as we control the trade effect of a country's trade facilitation, which is ranked by the World Bank's logistic performance index, RTAs consisting of trade facilitation provisions are discriminatory for trade in final goods and non-discriminatory for trade in intermediate goods. Overall, we endeavor to "explain," instead of "hypothesizing," why most of the recent RTAs contain trade facilitation provisions, especially in light of the deepening regional interdependence through trade in parts and components under global value chains and support the necessity of multilateralizing RTAs by implementing non-discriminatory trade facilitation provisions.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.427-465
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• 2018

East Asia, for long the epitome of successful engagement in trade, faces serious challenges: technological change that may threaten the very model of labor intensive industrialization and a backlash against globalization that may reduce access to important markets. The analysis in this article suggests that how East Asia copes with these global challenges will depend on how it addresses three more proximate national and regional challenges. The first is the emergence of China as a global trade giant, which is fundamentally altering the trading patterns and opportunities of its neighbors. The second is the asymmetric implementation of national reform - in goods trade and investment versus services - which is affecting the evolution of comparative advantage and productivity in each country. The third is the divergence between the relatively shallow and fragmented agreements that regulate the region's trade and investment and the growing importance of regional and global value chains as crucial drivers of productivity growth.

• 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.

• 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".

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.171-194
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• 2020

Although there is a lot of literature on the effectiveness of regional trade agreements(RTAs), it is usually analyzed only using trade-related theories and data. However, this paper has a differentiation in that we examine the linkage between international trade and financial markets through the stock markets reactions when the trade agreements related news arrived. Specifically, using an event study, we look into the Korea-US free trade agreement(KORUS FTA) which is the most commercially significant FTA in almost two decades for both the countries. Korean stock market generally responded more sensitively to FTA news than the US stock market, especially in 'Auto & Parts', 'Electrical Equipment' and 'Chemicals' industries. And the investors' perception toward the effect of KORUS FTA on Korean industries changed from negative to positive as negotiations proceed. Korea has a comparative advantage in the production of labor-intensive goods relative to US, but the economies of scale hypothesis does not hold.