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Chapters on economic cooperation are increasingly evident in trade agreements. The principles are clear but the mechanics are not. This paper presents a case study of a relevant project linked to the IA-CEPA which focuses on impediments to trade associated with differences in regulatory systems. It explains the procedures adopted and identifies a number of outcomes. Implications are identified for the design of future projects relevant to cooperation chapters, and for the application of concepts discussed elsewhere in the literature that are relevant for reducing impediments to trade in the context of global value chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several governments, including Malaysia's, have promoted small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for the socio-economic benefits such policies bring. Since the 1990s, Malaysian SMEs have progressed to take advantage of the exporting opportunities opened up by regional trading arrangements (RTAs). Using the electronics industry, which is prevalent in the manufacturing sector of Malaysia, this paper seeks to analyse the relationships between size and technological and performance variables. While foreign electronics firms in Malaysia have been thoroughly studied in the past, this paper focuses on national firms, which have been understudied thus far. SMEs show stronger participation in exports to ASEAN countries than large firms. Size did not matter in the intensity of use of technological capability variables. The government's initiatives to support them with ICT infrastructure, and trade promotion may have been successful. Also, RTAs show significant importance as the relationship between firms using them and intensity of exports to ASEAN and Northeast Asia is positive and strong. Also, while the incidence of participation in in-house R&D (IHRD) and training expenditure in payroll (TEP) is higher among firms that have used RTA instruments compared to firms that have not, firm size was not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Đi Mi in 1986, Vietnam has implemented a comprehensive economic renovation programme, including governance reform. As a result, the country has experienced impressive growth, mainly fuelled by rapid export expansion. This paper aims to examine the correlation between Vietnam's export efficiency and bilateral-specific governance performance indicator during the 1996-2014 period. The results show that Vietnam's export efficiency is positively correlated with the bilateral governance indicator and regional trade agreements, but negatively correlated with tariffs in the importing countries. The performance of Vietnam's export efficiency also displays an overall increasing trend, with some fluctuation before 2005 and gradual rise afterwards. The country achieved high efficiency in terms of exports to all major trading partners--with the exception of China. At the disaggregated level, export efficiency in electronic equipment is very low, suggesting that there remains large unrealized export potential in this product category. Overall, these results indicate that there is plenty of room for Vietnam's exports to grow in the future if the country can improve its efficiency in particular export products and/or markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After concluding difficult and long negotiations, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement was signed by twelve members in February 2016. It is an ambitious agreement that sets a new standard for global trade with a comprehensive coverage of issues and far-reaching liberalization measures. However, the ratification of the TPP in its agreed form is no longer possible because of the withdrawal of the United States. The paper argues that notwithstanding this, the TPP without the United States, or TPP-11, should be pursued by the remaining eleven members. This is because important economic benefits can be expected from its enactment. In addition, it is important to keep the momentum towards trade and investment liberalization and fight against growing protectionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In September 2010, the European Union (EU) and Malaysia began negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA). This paper examines the prospects and challenges facing the EU-Malaysia FTA negotiations from a political economy perspective. It will argue two points. First, while a deep FTA would offer significant welfare gains to Malaysia, a deep agreement is unlikely to be negotiated. This is because of the difficulty Malaysia would have in opening its services markets and changing investment regulations. Second, even a deep FTA would be of little economic or strategic use for the EU. Both points beg the question: why bother negotiating an FTA? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to empirically explore the nexus between foreign direct investment (FDI) and other factors for global value chain (GVC) participation (backward and forward) in Vietnam, a transitional economy. The estimation shows that the economic size and market development of Vietnam and its trading partners are the main determinants of the nation's GVC participation. Inward FDI flows into the country have a positive impact on its GVC participation in both forward and backward linkages. Geographical distance is an impediment to Vietnam's backward GVC participation, whilst engagement in free trade agreements is advantageous to its GVC participation in both backward and forward linkages. We find that the logistics performance of Vietnam and its trading partners also positively affects the country's GVC participation. The paper provides policy implications for Vietnam to better use FDI and other factors to enhance its GVC participation, such as by attracting large supplier firms in upstream industries across the multinational enterprises' (MNEs) value chains, promoting trade liberalization and improving logistical efficiency. Keywords: Vietnam, global value chains (GVCs), foreign direct investment (FDI)., 1. Introduction Research by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (2013) has estimated that about 80 per cent of global trade (in terms of gross exports) is [...]

This paper analyses the actual impact of import tariffs and of ASEAN membership on trade flows of ASEAN member countries and non-member countries. The Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML) econometric model is used to obtain consistent estimates in the presence of heteroscedasticity. Three groups of fixed effect variables are used to address concerns related to omitted control variables. The findings show that, while low import tariffs promote imports of the member countries, they also boost exports from the member countries. More interestingly, the effect spills over to the non-member major trade partners even though the impact is more prominent for member countries, which can be attributed to ASEAN's recent efficiency improvements. This study also sheds light on the prospect of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on account of the overlap between RCEP and ASEAN. Keywords: regional trade agreement, ASEAN, import tariffs, imports, exports, gravity model, 1. Introduction Despite the recent attrition in global trade, the world has witnessed a wave of globalization efforts in the form of regional trade agreements. In particular, members of the [...]

Using an unbalanced panel dataset of bilateral trade flows, we study the determinants of two-way trade for Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Korea and the ten ASEAN countries from 1990 to 2009. We find that bilateral trade flow is positively related to the sum of the GDP of trading countries, and similarity in GDP size, but inversely related to relative factor endowment differences, transportation costs and import tariffs. Our empirical results suggest that formulating an East Asian Free Trade Area is important for promoting intraregional trade. Furthermore, there is a need to provide a range of instruments to assist least-developed ASEAN countries in designing and implementing appropriate trade integration policies through the provision of technical and financial assistance as well as analytical support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the early effects of recent bilateral and regional Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) involving the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping, as well as Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Japan and Korea. We utilize an augmented gravity model with this ASEAN+6 group of countries to examine the impact of membership in a bilateral versus a plurilateral PTAfor the period of 1994 to 2006. The traditional gravity model is augmented by separately estimating the effects of bilateral memberships against plurilateral PTA memberships. Disaggregated country-by-country results indicate that plurilateral PTAs have had a more significant impact, relative to bilateral PTAs, in stimulating trade among the ASEAN+6 countries, in this initial period of new regionalism in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research note investigates the nature of Taiwan's economic links with Southeast Asia. While it is assumed that the economic links are driven by investment and formal trade agreements, we identify a more intertwined dynamic of "deep integration" through Global Value Chains (GVCs). We first examine the macro data of Taiwanese direct investment and bilateral trade with ASEAN member countries. Next, we discuss "the trade-investment-service- IP nexus " through the case of the textile and apparel industry in Taiwan, which evolved with the GVC led by brand marketers in advanced countries, cementing economic linkages between Taiwan and Southeast Asia. We then explore new patterns of Taiwanese development through exporting "good enough innovations " and "total solutions " in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a regionwide free trade agreement (FTA) linking the ten ASEAN economies to their '+5' partners, namely Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. It covers both trade and non-trade related issues ranging from rules of origin and trade facilitation to intellectual property rights and investment. This study examines the likely impact of RCEP on trade alone, taking into account the fact that all its members are already participants in a number of other FTAs. Using latest FTA data from the WTO on imports and exports, this study reveals that tariff reduction under RCEP will erode ASEAN's trade preferences provided by existing FTA partners, while reallocating import sources of ASEAN countries towards more efficient RCEP partners. Keywords: Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), ASEAN, Free Trade Agreement (FTA), tariff., 1. Introduction Free trade agreements (FTAs) create both winners and losers, and the formation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is no exception. RCEP is a regional agreement that [...]

Using an unbalanced panel dataset of bilateral trade flows, we study the determinants of two-way trade for Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Korea and the ten ASEAN countries from 1990 to 2009. We find that bilateral trade flow is positively related to the sum of the GDP of trading countries, and similarity in GDP size, but inversely related to relative factor endowment differences, transportation costs and import tariffs. Our empirical results suggest that formulating an East Asian Free Trade Area is important for promoting intraregional trade. Furthermore, there is a need to provide a range of instruments to assist least-developed ASEAN countries in designing and implementing appropriate trade integration policies through the provision of technical and financial assistance as well as analytical support. Keywords: East Asia, trade flows, regional integration, gravity model., I. Introduction Intraregional trade flows in East Asia (1) have increased gradually since the 1990s. One of the most important factors behind this is the proliferation of bilateral free trade [...]