FTA Networking in East Asia and Asia-Pacific: Where Are We Going?

This paper provides an overview on the recent development of FTA networking in extended East Asia and assesses the quality of FTAs with novel information on the utilization of FTAs, rules of origin, WTO plus elements, and others. It finds that East Asian FTA networking has been an effective driving force of promoting freer trade and investment, particularly through further activating international production networks. The paper also provides an overview of recent explosive increases in intra-regional and inter-regional exports by East Asia, which suggests the possibility of evaluation of FTA networking in a wider scope. The paper concludes that East Asia and Asia-Pacific may become a focal point of the model formation of “the 21st century regionalism.’’