Current Australian Free Trade Agreements

Australia`s trade policy reflected these international trends as the country signed seven free trade agreements and negotiated nine more. There is broad agreement within Australia that international trade is essential to the country`s long-term prosperity. However, there are differing views on how best to facilitate trade, i.e. whether it should be multilateral or through preferential trade agreements. Proponents of multilateralism believe that free trade agreements are primarily trade distortions and that their proliferation can lead to the creation of competing trading blocs with potential risks to economic stability. The privileged and discriminatory nature of free trade agreements was also raised by the Productivity Commission (PC), which expressed skepticism about the extent to which such agreements have substantial economic benefits for Australia. The high number of trade agreements between countries in the Asia-Pacific region has also raised concerns about the overlapping of trade rules and their impact on businesses due to the possible increase in transaction costs. One example is Australia, which is currently negotiating two bilateral agreements with Japan, the bilateral free trade agreement between Australia and Japan and the Regional Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). Twelve countries participate in the TPP negotiations, but most market access issues are negotiated bilaterally, i.e. from country to country. Free trade agreements provide a mechanism to facilitate trade in goods. Each agreement contains information and links to legislation, guidelines and opinions on rules of origin and access to preferential rates.

Free trade agreements are international agreements that remove or reduce certain barriers to trade and investment between two or more countries. Australia currently has 11 free trade agreements with 18 countries and is seeking to negotiate and implement additional agreements. Productivity Commission (PC), bilateral and regional trade agreements, research report, PC, Canberra, 2010. However, over the past two decades, the signing of preferential trade agreements, commonly known as free trade agreements (FAs) around the world, has increased significantly.