Both the creation of trade and the diversion of trade have a decisive impact on the creation of a free trade area. The creation of businesses will lead to the relocation of consumption from an inexpensive producer to an inexpensive producer, which will increase trade. On the other hand, trade diversion will have the effect of shifting trade from a lower-cost producer outside the zone to a more expensive one within the zone. [11] Consumers in the free trade area will not benefit from such a deferral, as they will have the opportunity to purchase cheaper imported goods. However, economists find that trade diversion does not always harm aggregate national welfare: it can even improve aggregate national welfare if the volume of diverted trade is low. [12] Few topics divide economists and the general public as much as free trade. The research findings indicate that economists at U.S. university faculties are seven times more likely to support free trade policy than the general public. In fact, the American economist Milton Friedman said, „The economic profession almost agreed on the desire for free trade.“ This view first became popular in 1817 by the economist David Ricardo in his book On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. He argued that free trade expands diversity and reduces the price of goods available in a country while making better use of its local resources, knowledge and specialized skills. The Market Access Card was developed by the International Trade Centre (ITC) to assist businesses, governments and researchers with market access.
The database, which is visible via the online market access map tool, contains information on tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade in all active trade agreements, not limited to those that have been officially notified to the WTO. It also documents data related to non-preferential trade agreements (e.g. Β Generalized System of Preferences). Until 2019, market access Map provided downloadable links to the text agreements and their rules of origin. [22] The new version of market Access Map, which will be released this year, will provide direct web links to relevant contract sites and connect to other ITC tools, including the Rules of Origin Facilitator. It should become a versatile instrument to help businesses understand free trade agreements and qualify for the original requirements under these agreements. [23] First, the customs duties and other rules that are maintained in each of the signatory parties to a free trade area and that apply at the time of the establishment of such a free trade area must not be higher or more restrictive for trade with parties not party to such a free trade area than the customs duties and other rules applicable in the same signatory parties before the creation of the free trade area. In other words, the creation of a free trade area for preferential treatment among its members is legitimate under WTO law, but parties to a free trade area cannot treat non-parties less favourably than before the establishment of the area. .
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