Free Trade Agreements

Free trade contributes to the prosperity and wealth of nations. Free trade agreements, however, deserve a more thorough analysis, because they are an extension of foreign economic policies. Their advantages might come at the expense of social groups or countries, which are excluded from the agreement. However, denouncing them as expressions of Western hegemonic aspirations not only ignores corresponding initiatives by Korea, China and Japan, it also fails to recognize evidently positive effects for the agreeing partners. To facilitate a more enlightened debate on free trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific, FNF Malaysia has chosen a new special focus on free trade agreements with a collection of some expert opinions.

Economic Freedom Overview
Mark Mullins, Fraser Institute
Freedom of the economy, including the freedom to trade internationally, has a significant impact on economic growth and the prosperity of a nation. This is stated by the Executive Director of the Canadian Fraser Institute, which created the comparative Economic Freedom Of The World Index - under the guidance of Milton Friedman and with the assistance of several other Nobel laureates, including Douglass North and Gary Becker.

Troublesome Trade Deals
Mohamed Ariff, Malaysian Institute of Economic Research
The Executive Director of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research sheds some light on the question, whether bilateral free trade agreements are “building blocks” or rather “stumbling blocks” of global free trade. He argues, “it would be a lot simpler and far more efficient to liberalise trade multilaterally”.

International Models of Bilateral Free Trade Agreements – Evidence from the Asia-Pacific
Christopher M. Dent, University of Leeds
According to this international expert, 40 Free Trade Agreements (FTA) concluded in the Asia-Pacific and another 30 or so projects in development are not about trade liberalisation at all. In his view, they are “conduits for extending commercial and diplomatic influence”. Prof. Dent distinguishes between FTA models applied by the US, Japan, China and Australia/New Zealand.

Malaysia and Bilateral Free Trade Agreements
Mohamed Ariff, Malaysian Institute of Economic Research
Prof. Ariff provides an overview of Malaysian bilateral free trade agreements, including his analysis on the current US-Malaysia FTA talks. While he raises severe policy concerns and issues, he also acknowledges a generally positive impact of bilateral FTA on GDP growth and employment in Malaysia.

European Union’s Strategies and Priorities in Preferential Trade Agreements
H.E. Ambassador Thierry Rommel, Head of the European Commission Delegation to Malaysia
Ambassador Rommel lists the European Union’s priorities in free trade agreements, e.g. comprehensive liberalisation of trade in goods and services, eradication of internal regulatory barriers, improvement of FDI conditions, competition policy, the opening of government procurement, and the protection of intellectual property rights. He elaborates on these priorities and calls for any agreement’s compatibility with WTO regulations.

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