The Rise of Bilateral FTAs and China’s Countermeasures

It has become an important trend in the current development of international economy and trade to advance economic and trade growth of a country or region by negotiating and signing bilateral free trade agreements (bilateral FTAs). By actively participating in bilateral FTAs countries can not only gain the static effects in trade creation, but also the dynamic effects in expanding market size, escalating economic competitiveness, absorbing foreign investment and improving terms of trade. China has made a good beginning in participating in bilateral FTAs in the last few years, but still lags well behind developed countries. In order to further develop China’s participation in bilateral FTAs, there is a need to make an overall plan for participating in bilateral FTAs, strengthen organization and coordination, determine the order of target nations with which to negotiate and sign FTAs, and enhance government capability of macro-regulation and economic control.