No Free Trade Agreement; Are you MAD?!
by Benjamin on January 16, 2010
Or maybe unpopular? At least that’s what it seems like if you have a look at this very nice picture of free trade agreement zones which include more than three countries: [large picture here]
So, who’s not in the club: Mauritania had a coup in 2008, Western Sahara is not technically a country according to the UN although I am sure that’s disputable. Iran is Iran and North Korea is North Korea. Turkmenistan is the country famous for once renaming their months and days according to the presidents whim – a new government has since changed that, but not much else. Somalia has famously become the pirate capital of the world and has no effective governance – and one suspects other countries would worry what effect an agreement would have on their relations with other trading partners who keep getting hi-jacked.
Panama does not – according to the map – have a free trade agreement with anyone in particular, but with one of the largest docking systems in the world and a WTO membership, one might claim that Panama has a trade agreement with everyone. But that could be conjecture. Similarly the grey dots in Europe might be the Vatican and Monaco perhaps (?), but these also have free trade with their ‘host’ countries Italy and France.
Mongolia – I don’t why Mongolia has chosen to exclude itself or why it’s neighbours exclude it. I guess there are some old tensions with China, and it was never incorporated into the Soviet Union so maybe it just likes its independence, or its two neighbours are not overly keen on the Parliamentary Republic?
Now I am not suggesting that free trade agreements are the utopia of economic policies, nor is this implying that these agreements are actual 100% free trade agreements. The EU is probably the closest thing to that with free labor and trade movement. But it is fascinating how this idea of a free trade agreement has become so popular, regardless of its proposed benefits.
Tags: free trade
