The World Trade Organization (WTO) reported that 10 countries and 2 blocs stand out for their large number of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs).
What is an RTA? Any reciprocal trade agreement between two or more parties, even if they do not belong to the same region.
According to a WTO report, from mid-October 2023 to mid-October 2024, WTO Members notified 17 RTAs (24 notifications).
A subdivision of these 17 RTAs is presented below:
- 7 include liberalization of trade in both goods and services.
- 9 deal only with trade in goods.
- 1 deals exclusively with trade in services.
Regional trade agreements
In general, WTO Members have committed themselves not to favor one trading partner over another. But RTAs are an exception to this rule.
The bottom line: WTO Members recognize the legitimate role of RTAs that aim to facilitate trade between their parties, but without erecting trade barriers vis-à-vis third parties.
According to the same report, the WTO Members with the highest number of RTAs in force are the European Union, the United Kingdom, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) States, Chile, Singapore and Türkiye, with more than 25 RTAs in force each.
The 27-member European Union is governed by several institutions that embody the dual, supranational and intergovernmental nature of this bloc.
The EFTA is the intergovernmental organization of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, created to promote free trade and economic cooperation among its members, within Europe and globally.
United Arab Emirates
Continuing with the hierarchy, Mexico, Republic of Korea and Peru each have more than 20 RTAs in force.
Some other developing countries, such as India, Malaysia and Panama, also have several RTAs in force.
During the period mentioned above, there were a number of important developments with regard to RTAs.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been very active in this area, with the conclusion of 13 bilateral RTAs in 2023 and 2024, to which should be added another five RTAs under negotiation.