First Published in EPW Vol - XLVIII No. 20, May 18, 2013
A decade after first being proposed, China, Japan and South Korea have finally kicked off negotiations on a trilateral free trade agreement (FTA). They made small but meaningful progress in their first round of talks in Seoul in late March as they seek to lay the groundwork for continued growth of their region based on mutually advantageous trade and investment.
The three countries adopted negotiation rules, agreed on the range of topics and basic guidelines on concessions. They have decided to carry out both bilateral and trilateral talks for merchandise goods, while engaging in trilateral talks for services, investment, and regulation.
They came to terms quicker than expected in the first talks, demonstrating how much...
