DISCUSION MGT457

Free trade is a trade policy that occurs between two or more countries that does not discriminate against imports or exports (Kowalski, 2007). Free trade policy is not applicable to a country that have abandoned all control and taxation of imports and also exports. Free trade agreement is a pact occurring between two or more countries to minimize barriers to imports and exports. Countries which have signed free trade policy can purchase and sell goods and services across international borders with reduced or no government quotas, tariffs, subsidies or prohibitions to minimize their exchange. In the current world, free trade policy is mostly implemented by means of a formal and mutual agreement among counties involved. This policy can be absences of trade restrictions among nations. United States practice free trade with twenty countries. United States have currently signed free trade agreements with fourteen countries in force with twenty countries. Some of these countries which have signed free trade agreement with United States include, Chile, Jordan, Australia, Korea, Bahrain, Panama, Singapore, and Oman. The most important Free Trade in United States is the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which was enacted in 1994. It created a free trade zone for Canada, Mexico and United States. Under NAFTA in the year 2008, elimination of all tariffs and quotas on exports of United States to Canada and Mexico (Martin, 2012). The third largest trading partner of United States is Mexico. Moreover, it is also the second largest export market for products of United States. NAFTA, offers coverage to all services except for maritime, aviation transport and basic telecommunications. In addition, it offered intellectual property rights protection in different areas such as copyrighted material, patent and trade mark Also, investors in United States are guaranteed equal treatment to indigenous investors in Canada and Mexico. Some other Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with United States include Australia FTA, Chile FTA, Israel FTA, Colombia FTA, Bahram FTA and Oman FTA.

References

Kowalski, K. M. (2007). Free trade. Marshall Cavendish.

Mexico–US migration, NAFTA and CAFTA, and US immigration policy: Philip Martin. (2012). Migration, Nation States, and International Cooperation, 83-94.