In this context, African politicians need to strengthen political support to make the continent`s existing RTAs more open to the rest of the world through non-discriminatory liberalization. However, opening up RTAs will be a difficult task, as highly protected industries – some dating back to the pre-independence period – and the ideology of “self-centered development” that inspired, among others, the Lagos Plan of Action and, more generally, import substitution policies, will be a difficult task. In addition, RTAs have inevitably created some stakeholders who oppose widespread liberalization. Exporters that have benefited from preferential access to regional markets will want to retain their niche markets. Local producers who have benefited from the rules of origin will resist the removal of barriers to foreign trade and efforts to make the rules more transparent and less restrictive. In the case of a customs union, there is a risk that once a country has acceded to it, its trade policy cannot be changed without the consent of its partners. If the initial common external tariff is high and it is difficult to reach consensus on its reduction, an RTA member is bound by a restrictive trade regime unless it is willing to leave the Union. Regional trade agreements (RTAs) have increased in number and scope over the years, including a significant increase in the large plurilateral agreements under negotiation. Non-discrimination between trading partners is one of the fundamental principles of the WTO; However, RTAs, which are reciprocal preferential trade agreements between two or more partners, are one of the exceptions and are allowed under the WTO subject to a number of rules.
Information on ATRs notified to the WTO is available in the ATR database. It is also expected to boost intra-African trade, promote industrialization, create jobs and improve the competitiveness of African industry on the global stage. Business taxes include only border taxes on trade (excluding VAT and excise duties on imports). The Trade Bloc Insights section of GlobalEDGE provides detailed analysis and resources organized by the world`s leading trading blocs. Discover statistics and resources that tell you about trade agreements and their economic impact. Read a detailed history of each trading bloc, a timeline of key dates, and a list of member countries for each trade agreement. Regional trade agreements are a subsection of the Official Website of the World Trade Organization. It includes an explanation of the rules for negotiating regional trade agreements (RTAs), related statistics and some articles on regional trade agreements. It also lists examples of regional trade agreements. Among the three formal customs unions, SACU has a common revenue pool and a common redistribution system among members, but has maintained a high level of protection against the rest of the world.
WAEMU has made progress in reducing tariffs relative to the rest of the world, but still faces formal and unofficial barriers to internal trade (including SROs). Cemac has malfunctioned and made little progress in reducing its tariffs on the rest of the world. Similarly, the record of African free trade agreements aimed at reducing barriers to trade with non-partner countries is mixed. The global trend towards regionalism tends to disadvantage African countries. Regionalism has created “hub-and-spoke” trade relations between countries, with large economies being the “hub” and small economies being the “rays”. Maintaining competitive (or “additive”) regionalism further strengthens relationships from which the hub tends to benefit disproportionately more than the shelves due to different rules of origin, product exclusions, non-trade issues, and trade and investment diversion (World Bank, 2004). Because their economies are small, African countries have always been the speakers in their trade relations with developed countries, especially those in Western Europe. The same World Bank study shows that if all developing countries signed a bilateral free trade agreement (on merchandise trade only) with all major centres – the Quad (Canada, EU, Japan and the United States), as well as Australia and New Zealand – sub-Saharan Africa would lose more than $3 billion (at 2001 prices) in 2015, or 0.7% of the region`s revenues (1.2% for non-SACU countries).
Indeed, African countries risk losing even more in such a race for bilateralism. First, not all major economies want to set up RTAs with Africa at this stage (at least not if agriculture is included and/or anti-dumping is on the negotiating agenda). Second, while Africa can establish rtas with all major economies, it is not the same as multilateral free trade. Rules of origin can and have been used to restrict market access (Krueger, 1999b; Flatters, 2002). Finally, small African countries would face enormous capacity constraints when attempting to negotiate and implement multiple RTAs. In contrast, hubs can essentially replicate the rules of origin each time they trade a new RTA and have access to all shelf markets. Hubs would have more access to inputs that are available without tariffs than any radius (Krueger, 1999a). The Global Preferential Trade Agreements Database (GPGTAD) provides information on trade agreements around the world.
The database, developed jointly by the World Bank and the Center for International Business at Dartmouth College`s Tuck School of Business, contains textual versions of all bilateral, free trade and customs union agreements since 1 June 2003. . .