This report has been prepared pursuant to the project “Study on Convergences and Divergences of Free Trade Agreements in the APEC region”, which consists of conducting a study to compare the content of the following Regional Trade Agreements/Free Trade Agreements (RTA/FTAs):
- the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA)
- the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)
- the Agreement between the United States, the United Mexican States, and Canada (USMCA)
- the Additional Protocol to the Framework Agreement of the Pacific Alliance (PA)
- the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP).
The objective of the study is to discuss areas of convergence and divergence across all chapters of trade agreements in the region that contribute to high standard and comprehensive regional undertakings, consistent with the mandate of the Aotearoa Plan of Action to further advance the Bogor Goals and economic integration in the region in a manner that is market-driven, including through the work on the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) agenda, with an aim to inform what has already been done, as well as to identify areas where work could be done towards achieving those high standards.
Given the dynamic nature of international trade and investment, the RTA/FTA rulebook is under constant revision and evolution, in an effort by the Parties to incorporate fresh approaches into their agreements that accommodate emerging trends and tackle new challenges. Therefore, in addition to assessing these agreements, the report also analyzes several new trade and investment trends brought about by events such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the acceleration of the digital economy, and the disruption of global and regional supply chains, all of which deserve reflection of APEC economies advancing the FTAAP agenda.
OBJECTIVES
A first objective of this report is to conduct a comparative analysis of the content and scope of the chapters/sectoral annexes of the five RTA/FTAs, to identify the degree of convergence and divergence of the provisions contained therein, and of the chapters/sectoral annexes and agreements themselves to determine how much they converge and how wide the divergences are.
A second objective of this report is to identify emerging and future trends shaping the trade and investment rulebook, and to suggest means to consider innovative approaches in advancing the FTAAP agenda contributing to high standard and comprehensive undertakings.
A final objective of this report is to present findings and recommendations resulting from the analysis of both the comparison of the five RTA/FTAs and of the innovative approaches.
Source: Committee on Trade and Investment Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation