What Is A Preferential Trade Agreement

Since the beginning of the 20th century, several hundred bilateral ATAs have been signed. The TREND project of the Canada Research Chair in International Political Economy[6] lists approximately 700 trade agreements, the vast majority of which are bilateral. [7] As mentioned above, these include agreements in which one country unilaterally offers preferential tariffs to another country or group of countries. The country offering the preference increases or lowers import duties on imports from those countries without receiving the same preferences in return. These agreements generally focus only on trade in goods. One of the fundamental principles of trade liberalization is non-discrimination under Articles 1 of the GATT, II of the GATS and IV of the TRIPS Agreement. This principle, the most-favoured-nation (MFN) society, means that WTO members must not discriminate between their trading partners. . . .