Free trade agreement
Also called: FTA · serbest ticaret anlaşması · STA
An agreement between two or more countries removing duties on most trade between them, while each keeps its own external tariff. Benefits are limited to goods meeting the agreement's rules of origin. Modern agreements also cover services, procurement, standards and customs cooperation.
In practice
Because each party keeps its own tariff, FTAs require origin proof, unlike a customs union in which goods in free circulation move freely.
EU
Türkiye
USA
UKRelated terms
- Customs union
- An arrangement in which members remove duties between themselves and apply a common external tariff to the rest of the world. Goods in free…
- Preferential origin
- Origin status under the rules of a specific free trade agreement or unilateral preference scheme that entitles goods to a reduced or zero duty. It is…
- Rules of origin
- The legal criteria that decide in which country goods are considered to have been produced. Preferential rules, set in each trade agreement or…
- Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention
- A regional convention that brings together common preferential rules of origin for the EU, EFTA, Türkiye, the Western Balkans, Ukraine, Moldova,…
- USMCA
- The free trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada, in force since 1 July 2020, replacing NAFTA. Its origin rules include regional…