Evaluation Of Elimination Of Trade Barriers Under Japan-Singapore Fta And Implication To China

The current international economic relations consist of two major axes. One is multilateralism represented by WTO and the other is regionalism. In particular, the rapid growth of regionalism is regarded as a salient characteristic of international economy in the 1990s. However, whether such growth of regionalism results in trade creation or trade diversion is not an issue that can be explicitly answered. Therefore, under the situation that regionalism already arose as an existing economic trend in the 1990s, it should be directed into shaping regional agreement in a way to reduce or eliminate existing trade barriers. Such reduction or elimination would ultimately lead to the maximization of economic benefits or trade creation. This thesis examines the Japan-Singapore Economic Partnership Agreement, Japan's first free trade agreement. Its primary purpose is to assess the contribution of JSEPA to the elimination or reduction of a variety of Japanese trade barriers.Japan as the second-largest world economy has been criticized due to its closed-door policy. Therefore, Japan's first free trade agreement should be designed to eliminate the factors that influence its policy. This thesis first reviews the debates on regional integration in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 chronologically reviews the history of Japanese trade policy which eventually led to the adoption of a multi-layered trade policy. In Chapter 4, JSEPA is overviewed. In Chapter 5, prior to assessing JSEPA, the existing trade barriers are discussed. Then, in Chapter 6, JSEPA is assessed. In the last Chapter, the FTA policy of China is analyzed.