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This chapter discusses some of the internationalisation (e.g. mergers and acquisitions, networks and strategic alliances) of household names into Africa – especially in the aftermath two simultaneous events – that is, the African Continental Free Trade Area and British exit from the European Union (Brexit) with or without a trade deal. This chapter also touches upon the need for inter-functional integration in driving forward Africa’s creative industries – notably the intersections between entrepreneurship and innovation within which business models in digital publishing and software development, as well as localisation of animation and games in Africa have been seen.

Cooperation in agriculture and agricultural products trade is a new driving force for Sino-Russian cooperation in economy and trade in recent years. Driven by the interests and needs of both countries, a Free Trade Zone (FTZ) on the Chinese territory facing Russia, the Heilongjiang FTZ, has been established, and agricultural cooperation has attracted much attention within the FTZ framework. This chapter aims to analyze and explain the prospects of Sino-Russian agricultural cooperation under the framework of the Heilongjiang FTZ based on the current situations of cooperation. The author concludes that the Heihe and Suifenhe Areas in Heilongjiang FTZ are developed with a focus on Sino-Russian agricultural cooperation. This chapter is innovative because it combined the traditional research perspective on Sino-Russian agricultural cooperation with that under the FTZ framework. The author thinks that to facilitate the cooperation between the two countries in agriculture under the FTZ, the two governments must cooperate more extensively. Besides, they need to discuss the establishment of infrastructures like a joint agricultural product R&D centre and a digital development centre for agriculture. Meanwhile, the schemes of dispute settlement and risk-sharing should be addressed as well.

We have used the Michigan computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of World Production and Trade to calculate the aggregate welfare and sectoral employment effects of the menu of U.S.–Japan trade policies. The menu of policies encompasses the various preferential U.S. and Japan bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs) negotiated and in process, unilateral removal of existing trade barriers by the two countries, and global (multilateral) free trade. The U.S. preferential agreements include the FTAs approved by the U.S. Congress with Chile and Singapore in 2003, those signed with Central America, Australia, and Morocco and awaiting Congressional approval in 2004, and prospective FTAs with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), Thailand, and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The Japanese preferential agreements include the bilateral FTA with Singapore signed in 2002 and prospective FTAs with Chile, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, and Thailand. The welfare impacts of the FTAs on the United States and Japan are shown to be rather small in absolute and relative terms. The sectoral employment effects are also generally small in the United States and Japan, but vary across the individual sectors depending on the patterns of the bilateral liberalization. The welfare effects on the FTA partner countries are mostly positive though generally small, but there are some indications of potentially disruptive employment shifts in some partner countries. There are indications of trade diversion and detrimental welfare effects on nonmember countries for some of the FTAs analyzed. Data limitations precluded analysis of the welfare effects of the different FTA rules of origin and other discriminatory arrangements.

In comparison with the welfare gains from the U.S. and Japan bilateral FTAs, the gains from both unilateral trade liberalization by the United States, Japan, and the FTA partners and global (multilateral) free trade are shown to be rather substantial and more uniformly positive for all countries in the global trading system. The U.S. and Japan FTAs are based on “hub” and “spoke” arrangements. We show that the spokes emanate out in different and often overlapping directions, suggesting that the complex of bilateral FTAs may create distortions of the global trading system.

The main purpose of this chapter is to explore the role BRICS countries have played in the formation of regional (free) trade agreements. The present chapter tries to understand and document recent developments and directions taken by the BRICS countries either individually or in aligning with each other at the regional and mega-regional levels.

The chapter is largely empirical and descriptive to analyse the recent RTAs policies of the BRICS countries.

This chapter provides in particular as assessment of the impact on BRICS countries of the three recent Mega-RTAs; that is TPP, TPIP and RCEP. For this purpose, an attempt had been made to find out the commonalties and divergences in the RTAs policies of the BRICS countries.

The chapter is divided into six sections. After a brief introduction, the second section deals with the reasons for countries entering into RTAs. The third section documents the directions of the current negotiations on Mega-RTAs and its (potential) geographical implications for the BRICS countries. The fourth and the fifth sections deal with the current status of these RTAs and their noticeable impact on the response of the BRICS countries. The final section concludes the research with suggestions and recommendations.

RTAs and Mega-RTAs frameworks have been useful for BRICS countries. This recent development in trade negotiations can be regarded as promising for them.

Civil society, as represented by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), is exerting increasing pressure on national governments, multinational corporations, and international institutions. In this chapter we document the evolution of participation by civil society and NGOs in Western Hemisphere economic integration, focusing particularly on the NGO role in three important trade and investment agreements: the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the Free Trade Area of the Americas process. We find that NGOs are having increasing influence on the trade and investment agreements in the Hemisphere, and are poised to take on a major role in multilateral negotiations and agreements.

The introduction of the 22 member countries of the 4+10+2+6 model of the Asian economy is the immediate task. Japan, Korea, China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar constitute the now-famous 4+10 model. Following the principle of inclusion, Mongolia, Chinese Taipei, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka, as they belong to the regional map of the continent of Asia, are the eight remaining member countries (see Chapter 1). An overview of Asia's 22 member continental economy the AE-22, with its 3.6 billion people (2006) who have made the region of Asia their home in a land area of 20.5 million km² should be welcome. To put these figures in perspective, the AE-22 comprises only 13.7 percent of the world's land area, but is home to over half the world's population. Tables 2.1–2.4, presented below, illustrate the various figures relating to population, land area, GDP, and GDP per capita of the member nations of the AE-22.

The leaders of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced to negotiate a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RECP) in November 2012, which is comprised of 10 ASEAN Member States (Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar) and its six FTA partner countries (China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and India). Embedded in the ASEAN Charter and implemented in all existing ASEAN + 1 FTAs, the ASEAN Centrality has been a corner stone principle in ASEAN-centric economic initiatives. Emerging discord in the region, complicated security climate and the rise of China, among others, have put the ASEAN Centrality under challenge. The development of the RCEP provides a timely case to assess ASEAN’s leadership role in creating the world’s most populous Free Trade Area. The RCEP may enhance ASEAN’s central role, but ASEAN needs to address challenges facing the regional integration now and beyond 2015. On the country/economy level, the chapter reviews some ASEAN Member States and their FTA Partners how they practice their ASEAN policy and seek leadership role in ASEAN. The three major players in ASEAN-Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia have reiterated the importance of the ASEAN Centrality in their foreign policy in the past, but debates emerge whether, such as in Indonesia, ASEAN Centrality best suits the national interests. The chapter also explores how the major powers, including China and the United States, respond to and collaborate with the group of smaller developing country players.

Purpose – This chapter suggests that the value of the extension to free trade areas (FTAs) of the Kemp–Wan (KW) theorem on necessarily welfare-improving customs unions is undermined by its very rationale – the greater popularity of FTAs over customs unions for ‘political’ reasons.

Methodology/approach – We discuss some intuition supported by partial equilibrium diagrammatic analysis and then present simulations of a global CGE model.

Findings – We argue that this sort of FTA will likely be unattractive to potential member countries. We then observe that the external tariffs here and in KW will be identical for many goods but illustrate, in a partial equilibrium setting, a context in which there might be some difference between them. Nevertheless, our analysis suggests that there are reasons to expect some harmonisation of tariffs between member countries in this sort of FTA.

Originality/value – We are the first to question the practical value of the extension of KW to FTAs. We also provide one of the few computable general equilibrium analyses of KW customs unions.