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Trading with the european union
The European Union (EU) was established to remove barriers to the free movement of capital, labour and services within Europe and to establish trade barriers against non-member countries. The EU is one of Australia's largest trading partners-it is the largest source of foreign investment in Australia and, in turn, most of Australia's overseas investments go to the EU. Further agreements have been signed to ensure a continuing and expanding market in Europe for Australia's wine, coal and wool exp -
North American
The NAFTA trading bloc includes the United States, Canada, Mexico and Chile. NAFTA aims to integrate the economies of North America as a defence against the trade protectionism of the EU. This addition to the number of existing trading blocs has put pressure on smaller trading countries like Australia. -
World trade Organisation
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is the only global international organisation that monitors and administers the rules of trade between countries. It was established in 1993 through the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and facilitates international agreements by regulating the use of subsidies and enforcing sanctions on non-compliant countries. It further assists producers, exporters and importers with issues related to the trade of goods, services, and intellectual property. Aus -
APEC
Australia belongs to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group (1989). APEC began in response to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies, and has 18 member nations located around the Asia-Pacific Rim that includes Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. The significance of APEC can be seen in its member -
ASEAN free trade aera
A major Asia-Pacific trading bloc is the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Free Trade Area (AFTA). Australia's exports to AFTA countries exceed exports to either the EU or North America. Its member countries include Burma, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. AFTA's future goals coincide with Australia's regional trading aims. These goals include liberalising trade in ASEAN by progressively removing tariff and non -
ECC
Australia's first trading agreement was the New Zealand-Australia Free Trade Agreement (1965). This was a response to Britain's move away from trade in the British Commonwealth to join the European Economic Community (ECC) and the desire for closer economic ties between Australia and its region. The first agreement to address this was the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement (CER) in 1983. In 1988 the two countries agreed to implement free trade in goods from 1990, wit -
Australia-United States
Since 2003, the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) has primarily sought an end to long-standing agricultural trade barriers between the two countries. The agreement has also sought protection for Australian investment into the US market and to significantly expand exports such as meat. It has further expanded Australian service industries, particularly telecommunications and IT, with the adoption of US industry models and integration with them. Some have criticised this for th