Expectations from future Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)
After a long hiatus, the Government appears to have worked itself into a renewed frenzy to conclude trade deals with a number of countries notably UK, Australia, UAE, EU and possibly the USA. Given our past experience of negotiating trade deals with ASEAN, Japan and Korea and the last minute withdrawal from the RCEP negotiations, the outcome of the current rounds of FTA being negotiated is anybody’s guess. The dilemma for our policy makers has essentially centred around balancing between domestic policy and electoral compulsions on the one hand and our obligations under WTO and other multilateral/ bilateral engagements on [...]