Free Trade Agreements as Protectionist Devices: Rules of Origin
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In this paper it is argued that there is an important protectionist bias inherent in free trade agreements which is not present in custom unions.In any customs union or free trade agreement, one of the critical issues concerns "rules of origin."In a free trade agreement rules of origin have an important function because, without one, each imported commodity would enter through the country with the lowest tariff on each commodity.The criterion for duty-free treatment is important in determining the economic effects of the rule of origin.It is shown that rules of origin in fact extend the protection accorded by each country to producers in other free trade agreement member countries.As such, rules of origin can constitute a source of bias toward economic inefficiency in free trade agreements in a way they cannot do with customs unions.
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What Do Trade Agreements Really Do?
Rodrik, D. (2018) · Journal of Economic Perspectives · doi:10.1257/jep.32.2.73 · Cited by 518 · see citing works
- Authors
- Krueger, A.
- Affiliations
- National Bureau of Economic Research (US)
- Corresponding author
- Krueger, Anne
- Venue
- National Bureau of Economic Research
- Publisher
- National Bureau of Economic Research
- Published
- 1993-04
- OpenAlex
- W3125724830
- Cited by
- 163
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 4
- Type
- report
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- National Bureau of Economic Research (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › General Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Global trade and economics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › World Trade Organization Law
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › International Relations in Latin America
- Keywords
- free trade agreements, rules of origin, protectionism, customs union, tariff competition, economic inefficiency, preferential trade
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