A trade bloc is a type of intergovernmental agreement, often part of a regional intergovernmental organization, where regional barriers to trade (tariffs and non-tariff barriers) are reduced or eliminated among the participating states.^[1]

[edit] Description

One of the first economic blocs was the German Customs Union (Zollverein) initiated in 1834, formed on the basis of the German Confederation and subsequently German Empire from 1871. Surges of trade bloc formation were seen in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as in the 1990s after the collapse of Communism. By 1997, more than 50% of all world commerce was conducted under the auspices of regional trade blocs.^[2] Economist Jeffrey J. Scott of the Peterson Institute for International Economics notes that members of successful trade blocs usually share four common traits: similar levels of per capita GNP, geographic proximity, similar or compatible trading regimes, and political commitment to regional organization.^[3]

Advocates of worldwide free trade are generally opposed to trading blocs, which, they argue, encourage regional as opposed to global free trade.^[4] Scholars and economists continue to debate whether regional trade blocs are leading to a more fragmented world economy or encouraging the extension of the existing global multilateral trading system.^[5][6] Trade blocs can be stand-alone agreements between several states (such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or part of a regional organization (such as the European Union). Depending on the level of economic integration, trade blocs can fall into different categories, such as:^[7] preferential trading areas, free trade areas, customs unions, common markets and economic and monetary unions.

[edit] List of trade blocs

This list is based on the data obtained from  United Nations Statistics Division.

Trade bloc	Population	Gross domestic product (USD)				Members
		2006	2007	growth	per capita
Economic and monetary unions
CEMAC	39,278,645	51,265,460,685	58,519,380,755	14.15%	1,490	6  Cameroon  Central African Republic  Chad  Republic of the Congo  Equatorial Guinea  Gabon
EMU	324,879,195	10,685,946,928,310	12,225,304,229,686	14.41%	37,630	16  Austria  Belgium  Cyprus  Finland  France  Germany  Greece  Ireland  Italy  Luxembourg  Malta  Netherlands  Portugal  Slovakia  Slovenia  Spain
OECS	593,905	3,752,679,562	3,998,281,731	6.54%	6,732	6  Antigua and Barbuda  Dominica  Grenada  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Saint Lucia  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
OII	504,476	12,264,278,329	14,165,953,200	15.51%	28,081	3  French Polynesia  New Caledonia  Wallis and Futuna
UEMOA	90,299,945	50,395,629,494	58,453,871,283	15.99%	647	8  Benin  Burkina Faso  Côte d'Ivoire  Guinea-Bissau  Mali  Niger  Senegal  Togo
Common markets
CACM	37,388,063	87,209,524,889	97,718,800,794	12.05%	2,614	5  Costa Rica  El Salvador  Guatemala  Honduras  Nicaragua
CAN	96,924,486	281,269,141,372	334,172,968,648	18.81%	3,448	4  Bolivia  Colombia  Ecuador  Peru
CCCM	6,418,417	39,616,485,623	43,967,600,765	10.98%	6,850	12 6 OECS members  Barbados  Belize  Guyana  Jamaica  Suriname  Trinidad and Tobago
EEA	499,620,521	14,924,076,504,592	17,186,876,431,709	15.16%	34,400	30 27 EU members  Iceland  Liechtenstein  Norway
Customs unions
EAC	127,107,838	49,882,030,443	61,345,180,041	22.98%	483	5  Burundi  Kenya  Rwanda  Tanzania  Uganda
EAEC	207,033,990	1,125,634,333,117	1,465,256,182,498	30.17%	7,077	6  Belarus  Kazakhstan  Kyrgyzstan  Russia  Tajikistan  Uzbekistan
EUCU	574,602,745	15,331,827,900,202	17,679,376,474,719	15.31%	30,768	33 30 EEA members  Andorra  San Marino  Turkey
GCC	36,154,528	724,460,151,595	802,641,302,477	10.79%	22,200	6  Bahrain  Kuwait  Oman  Qatar  Saudi Arabia  United Arab Emirates
MERCOSUR	55,681,675	277,544,834,196	305,692,671,540	10.14%	5,490	5  Argentina  Brazil  Paraguay  Uruguay  Venezuela
SACU	268,445,656	1,499,811,549,187	1,848,337,158,281	23.24%	6,885	5  Botswana  Lesotho  Namibia  South Africa  Swaziland
Free trade areas
AANZFTA-ASEAN+3	2,085,858,841	10,216,029,899,764	11,323,947,181,804	10.84%	5,429	15 10 ASEAN members  Australia  China ( Hong Kong) ( Macau)  Japan  New Zealand  South Korea
ALADI	499,807,662	2,823,198,095,131	3,292,088,771,480	16.61%	6,587	12 4 CAN members 5 MERCOSUL members  Chile  Cuba  Mexico
AFTZ	553,915,405	643,541,709,413	739,927,625,273	14.98%	1,336	26 5 EAC members 5 SACU members  Angola  Comoros  Democratic Republic of the Congo  Djibouti  Egypt  Eritrea  Ethiopia  Libya  Madagascar  Malawi  Mauritius  Mozambique  Seychelles  Sudan  Zambia  Zimbabwe
APTA	2,714,464,027	4,868,614,302,744	5,828,692,637,764	19.72%	2,147	6  Bangladesh  China ( Hong Kong) ( Macau)  India  Laos  Sri Lanka  South Korea
CARIFORUM-EUCU-OCTs	592,083,950	15,437,771,092,522	17,798,283,524,961	15.29%	30,060	67 12 CCCM members 33 EUCU members 3 OII members  Anguilla  Aruba  Bahamas  British Antarctic Territory  British Indian Ocean Territory  British Virgin Islands  Cayman Islands  Dominican Republic  Falkland Islands  French Southern and Antarctic Lands  Greenland  Mayotte  Montserrat  Netherlands Antilles  Pitcairn Islands  Saint Helena  South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands  Saint Pierre and Miquelon  Turks and Caicos Islands
CEFTA	27,968,711	110,263,802,023	135,404,501,031	22.80%	4,841	8  Albania  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Croatia  Kosovo  Macedonia  Moldova  Montenegro  Serbia
CISFTA	272,897,834	1,271,909,586,018	1,661,429,920,721	30.62%	6,088	11 6 EAEC members  Armenia  Azerbaijan  Georgia  Ukraine  Moldova
DR-CAFTA-US	356,964,477	13,345,469,865,037	14,008,686,684,089	4.97%	39,244	7 5 CACM members  Dominican Republic  United States ( Puerto Rico)
ECOWAS	283,096,250	215,999,071,943	255,784,634,128	18.42%	904	15 8 UEMOA members  Cape Verde  Gambia  Ghana  Guinea  Liberia  Nigeria  Sierra Leone
EFTA-SACU	68,199,991	1,021,509,931,918	1,139,385,636,888	11.54%	16,707	9 4 EFTA members 5 SACU members
NAFTA	449,227,672	15,337,094,304,218	16,189,097,801,318	5.56%	36,038	3  Canada  Mexico  United States ( Puerto Rico)
TPP	25,639,622	401,810,366,865	468,101,167,294	16.50%	18,257	4  Brunei  Chile  New Zealand  Singapore
SAARC	1,567,187,373	1,162,684,650,544	1,428,392,756,312	22.85%	911	8  Afghanistan  Bangladesh  Bhutan  India  Maldives  Nepal  Pakistan  Sri Lanka
SPARTECA	35,079,659	918,557,785,031	1,102,745,750,172	20.05%	31,435	21 3 OII members 12 PICTA members  Australia  Marshall Islands  New Zealand  Palau  Timor-Leste  Tokelau

[edit] Notes

[edit] Bibliography

• Mansfield, Edward D. and Helen V. Milner, "The New Wave of Regionalism" in Diehl, Paul F. (2005). The Politics of Global Governance: International Organizations in an Interdependent World. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN 1-555876-544. 
• Milner, Helen V., "International Trade" in Carlsnaes, Walter; Thomas Risse, Beth A. Simmons (2002). Handbook of International Relations. London: SAGE Publications. ISBN 0-761963-049. 
• O'Loughlin, John; Luc Anselin (1996). "Geo-Economic Competition and Trade Bloc Formation: United States, German, and Japanese Exports, 1968-1992". Economic Geography 72 (2): 131–160. 
• Schott, Jeffrey J. (1991). "Trading blocs and the world trading system". World Economy 14 (1): 1–17. 

[edit] See also

• Regional integration