14. Whalley J. Why are countries seeking regional trade agreements? Frankel JA, Editor-in-Chief. The regionalization of the global economy. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Chicago Press (1998). 63-90. Figure 3. Global maps of average BTA impact indices. The country`s export and import links (out, above) and import links are presented below. The red figures indicate that the relative importance of partners for each country has increased on average. The average is taken up by all trading partners with whom a given country introduced a BTA between 1995 and 2008. The profile of the U.S. BTA is very different from that of China.

BTA`s impact indices on U.S. export ties with their partners highlight a possible focus on boosting their own exports during the negotiations. Although the importance of import links between contracting parties has also increased for the United States, a positive trend has been observed only for Australia, Central America and Jordan. However, this increase in the volume of trade is less important for U.S. partners than their market expansion vis-à-vis third countries. The fact that most U.S. partners reached significantly lower levels after the implementation of their respective BTAs shows that while the volume of bilateral trade is increasing, partner economies have become less dependent on the United States as trading partners. One possible reason for this observation would simply be to make other domestic markets more attractive to the trading partners concerned, who serve as alternative partners, for example.

B, due to the general decline in labour costs in these third countries. Since policy decisions are generally based on individual considerations, national policies can only create a general economic environment, but will hardly be able to fully meet the challenge of international economic competition. 5. Cipollina M, Salvatici L. Reciprocal trade agreements in gravity models: a meta-analysis. Rev Int Econ. (2010) 18:63-80. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9396.2009.00877.x The current U.S. government`s announcement to revise the country`s trade policy and negotiate “new and better agreements” on TA [1] has reignited the debate about the impact of such agreements and on the underlying interests and strategies.