Korea Reaches the World’s Three Largest FTA Economic Territory

In the FTA economic territory, which means the combined gross domestic product (GDP) of countries that have concluded FTAs with a certain country, Korea ranks in the No. 3 position after Chile and Mexico.

The recent bilateral FTA negotiation with Australia has actually concluded, so Korea’s FTA economic territory is expected to be far broadened. Moreover, if agreement on a Korea-China FTA is reached, Korea is likely to take the world’s No. 1 position in terms of FTA economic territory.

According to the recent data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), Korea has an effectuated status of FTAs with 46 nations after the effectuation of the Korea-Chile FTA in 2004. The foreign nations include 26 countries of the EU and 10 countries of ASEAN.

The combined GDP of Korea’s FTA partner nations is $40.3trillion, or 57.7% of the world’s GDP of $69.9trillion as of 2012. The portion of the combined GDP of Korea’s partner nations is the world’s third largest following Mexico (64.1%) and Chile (78.5%). It is also 3.4 times higher than Japan with an economic territory of 17 percent. Chile boasts the world’s No. 1 position in terms of FTA economic territory with FTA conclusions with three major global economic giants of the US, China, and Japan.

Once Australia with GDP of $1.5trillion and Canada with GDP of $1.8trillion are added to Korea’s FTA economic territory, Korea’s portion of economic territory will rise to 62.5%. The FTA negotiation with Canada saw a tangible progress, so the conclusion is expected to be made in the very near future.

If Korea soon reaches an FTA agreement with the world’s No. 2 economy China with GDP of $7.9917trillion, the share of Korea’s FTA territory in the world climbs to 74%, or the world’s No. 1 position. Korea recently reached an FTA agreement with Colombia and is under the FTA negotiations with China, Vietnam, Indonesia, New Zealand, and GCC member nations including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and U.A.E.

By Kim Min-su : Here