ISDS Case Map
FTAAP
Free Trade Area of Asia-Pacific (APEC)
Leaders of 21 Asia-Pacific economies agreed to push forward with a wider free trade agreement, even as U.S. and China form their own free trade blocs to gain greater influence in the region.
Ministers of 21 Asia-Pacific economies on Tuesday welcomed progress in efforts to establish a region-wide free trade zone as they wrapped up a two-day meeting in Manila.
To address the global challenges faced by Asia Pacific economies, APEC businesses should adopt China’s free trade and investment agreements, policies, and initiatives, Chinese President Xi Jinping said
China will seek to push its own vision of an Asia-Pacific trade pact at a regional summit next week, senior officials said, after this month’s release of a rival US-led deal that pointedly excludes the Asian giant.
While bilateral free trade agreements, as a means to further the market-opening and rule-making agenda, have been globally picking up steam, there have also been parallel efforts to usher in a plethora of regional trade agreements and economic unions.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino said his government is studying the benefits of joining the TPP before it makes a decision.
China got APEC trade ministers to agree on a two-year study of a potential FTAAP, but not a launch of negotiations as it wanted.
China's push for the proposed Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) at the upcoming Apec summit has cleared the first hurdle, with senior officials of the 21-member grouping agreeing to launch a feasibility study.
The road map will not include detailed steps for when and how to crystallize the vision of the massive Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific being pushed by Beijing, amid reluctance expressed by the United States, negotiation sources say.
There appears to be a race between the United States and China to dominate the rules-setting game for trade by being the first to announce plans of realising a Free Trade Agreement for the Asia-Pacific -- with billions of dollars in trade at stake.
