Intensity of trade between Pacific Basin countries

Abstract

There has been considerable discussion in recent years of proposals aimed at more closely integrating the market economies of the Pacific Basin through, among other things, regional trade liberalisation. This discussion has been premised on three related facts: that the major trading partners of each Pacific Basin country are other countries in the region: that it is easier politically for a country to liberalise its trade policies if its major trading partners do likewise: and that the present pattern of trade barriers. together with the wide differences in resource endowments across the region, ensure that trade liberalisation confined to the region would benefit mainly countries of the region, even without a common external tariff. The Pacific Basin initiative is thus seen as a way of making faster progress towards freer trade than seems possible via unilateral action or global negotiations while, at the same time, not contravening the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Show more