Abstract
The article examines the current interaction, convergence and the state of formalization of trade and competitive cooperation between the largest international integration groupings, namely, negotiating the free trade area between them and determining the possible prospects for the development of transregional integration. The aim of the study is to analyze the main trends of free trade zones and agreements between the European Union (EU), United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), South American economic organization (MERCOSUR), the impact of transregional integration on trade and investment activities of Member States and integration groupings in general. The analysis of current trends has indicated the strengthening of the momentum of the negotiations on free trade zones between international integration groupings and the establishment of the major global trend: the number and types of agreements on trade and economic cooperation not only between countries, but also between interstate integration groupings are growing, new free trade zones are being announced, and the range of concepts regarding competitive advantages is being extended. It has been determined that trade and competitive interaction of the global economy creates a stable platform for building up both economic and competitive force, which leads to global economic development and enhances hypercompetition. It has been proved that trade and competitive convergence of interstate integration groupings leads to new forms and mechanisms of activities organization and as a result, the prospects for the consolidation of free trade zones are emerging. Thus, the competitive position of international integration associations in the global economy is being strengthened due to active development of economic and trade cooperation, not only within the grouping of Member States, but also in the parallel process of interaction with non-Member States and with international integration groupings.
Highlights
Within today's globalized world economy, almost all interstate integration groupings face uncertainty regarding cooperation with non-Member States and other integration groupings
It has been proved that trade and competitive convergence of interstate integration groupings leads to new forms and mechanisms of activities organization and as a result, the prospects for the consolidation of free trade zones are emerging
The position of any integration grouping proved to be determined by the internal potential and interaction between the Member States of the grouping, and by the degree of economic and competitive cooperation, since it becomes apparent that the economies of the Member States of the integration grouping cannot be restricted by the grouping, but must develop their economic and competitive relations
Summary
Within today's globalized world economy, almost all interstate integration groupings face uncertainty regarding cooperation with non-Member States and other integration groupings. While in recent years the economic integration of countries has developed intensively, today the formalization of cooperation between interstate integration groupings, namely the negotiation of a free trade zone between them is the phenomenon of great importance. The purpose of research is to study the interaction and convergence of interstate integration groupings in terms of trade and competition and closely examine and analyze the negotiation processes, as well as agreements between the largest interstate integration groupings: USMCA, EU, ASEAN and MERCOSUR. In terms of the MERCOSUR Member States, the aforementioned free trade zone will contribute to the diversification of trade and competition relations and reduce their dependence on USMCA Member States, significantly build up competitive force and enhance international prestige of the grouping, not to mention the markets for products (it will allow Argentina and Brazil to strengthen their integration into global value chains). Viewed the EUMERCOSUR export as a whole, from 1998 to 2018 it increased 1.9 times, and MERCOSUR-EU export increased 2.3 times (see Table 1)
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