The United States has free trade agreements (FTAs) with about 20 countries, including Mexico, Canada, Colombia, South Korea, Morocco and others. Negotiations for a new US FTA with Kenya are currently underway, with talks beginning in July 2020 and scheduled to conclude by the end of 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the […]
Free trade agreements (FTAs) are often signed by the developing countries in the hope of increasing their market access, improving their balance of trade (BOT) and reviving their economic growth by generating additional output and employment in their countries. However, if FTAs worsen the BOT or net exports, they can adversely impact Gross Domestic Product […]
Japan’s recent role in promoting the expansion of intellectual property rights (IPR) in regional trade agreements signals a shift in the landscape once dominated by the United States (US) and European Union (EU). Japan was a latecomer to the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) but has played a key role in attempting to revive the […]
The inclusion of elevated standards of intellectual property (IP) protection in the recently negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement has raised serious public health concerns regarding access to medicines. A lesser-known trade agreement that went into effect in January 2022 in the Asia-Pacific region is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Framed as an attempt to […]