# Trade bloc

A trade bloc is a type of intergovernmental agreement, often part of a regional intergovernmental organization, where barriers to trade (tariffs and others) are reduced or eliminated among the participating states.
Trade blocs can be stand-alone agreements between several states (such as the USMCA) or part of a regional organization (such as the European Union). Depending on the level of economic integration, trade blocs can be classified as preferential trading areas, free-trade areas, customs unions, common markets, or economic and monetary unions.

## Use

Historic trading blocs include the Hanseatic League, a Northern European economic alliance between the 12th and 17th centuries, and the German Customs Union, formed on the basis of the German Confederation and subsequently the German Empire from 1871. Surges of trade bloc formation occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as in the 1990s after the collapse of Communism. By 1997, more than 50% of all world commerce was conducted within regional trade blocs. Economist Jeffrey J. Schott of the Peterson Institute for International Economics notes that members of successful trade blocs usually share four common traits: similar levels of per capita GNP, geographic proximity, similar or compatible trading regimes, and political commitment to regional organization.
Some advocates of global free trade are opposed to trading blocs. Trade blocs are seen by them to encourage regional free trade at the expense of global free trade. Those who advocate for it claim that global free trade is in the interest of every country, as it would create more opportunities to turn local resources into goods and services that are both currently in demand and will be in demand in the future by consumers. However, scholars and economists continue to debate whether regional trade blocs fragment the global economy or encourage the extension of the existing global multilateral trading system.

## Terminology

A common market is seen as a stage of economic integration towards an economic union or possibly towards the goal of a unified market.
A single market is a type of trade bloc in which most trade barriers have been removed (for goods) with some common policies on product regulation, and freedom of movement of the factors of production (capital and labour) and of enterprise and services.

## Statistics

This list is based on the data obtained from  United Nations Statistics Division. :
| Trade bloc | Population | Gross domestic product (USD) | Gross domestic product (USD) | Gross domestic product (USD) | Gross domestic product (USD) | Members |
| Trade bloc | Population | 2006 | 2007 | growth | per capita | Members |
| Economic and monetary unions |||||||
| EMU | 324,879,195 | 10,685,946,928,310 | 12,225,304,229,686 | 14.41% | 37,630 | 17  Austria Belgium Cyprus Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Ireland Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Portugal Slovakia Slovenia Spain |
| OECS (sovereign states) | 593,905 | 3,752,679,562 | 3,998,281,731 | 6.54% | 6,732 | 6  Antigua and Barbuda Dominica Grenada Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
| OII | 504,476 | 12,264,278,329 | 14,165,953,200 | 15.51% | 28,081 | 3  French Polynesia New Caledonia Wallis and Futuna |
| CCCM | 6,418,417 | 39,616,485,623 | 43,967,600,765 | 10.98% | 6,850 | 12 6 OECS members Barbados Belize Guyana Jamaica Suriname Trinidad and Tobago |
| Customs and monetary unions |||||||
| CEMAC | 39,278,645 | 51,265,460,685 | 58,519,380,755 | 14.15% | 1,490 | 6  Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Republic of the Congo Equatorial Guinea Gabon |
| UEMOA | 90,299,945 | 50,395,629,494 | 58,453,871,283 | 15.99% | 647 | 8  Benin Burkina Faso Ivory Coast Guinea-Bissau Mali Niger Senegal Togo |
| Customs unions |||||||
| CAN | 96,924,486 | 281,269,141,372 | 334,172,968,648 | 18.81% | 3,448 | 4  Bolivia Colombia Ecuador Peru |
| EAC | 127,107,838 | 49,882,030,443 | 61,345,180,041 | 22.98% | 483 | 5  Burundi Kenya Rwanda Tanzania Uganda |
| EUCU | 574,602,745 | 15,331,827,900,202 | 17,679,376,474,719 | 15.31% | 30,768 | 33 30 EEA members Andorra San Marino Turkey |
| GCC | 36,154,528 | 724,460,151,595 | 802,641,302,477 | 10.79% | 22,200 | 6  Bahrain Kuwait Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates |
| MERCOSUR | 271,304,946 | 1,517,510,000,000 | 1,886,817,000,000 | 12.44% | 9,757 | 5  Argentina Brazil Paraguay Uruguay Venezuela |
| SACU | 58,000,000 | 1,499,811,549,187 | 1,848,337,158,281 | 23.24% | 6,885 | 5  Botswana Lesotho Namibia South Africa Eswatini |
| Preferential trade areas and Free trade areas |||||||
| AANZFTA-ASEAN+3 | 2,085,858,841 | 10,216,029,899,764 | 11,323,947,181,804 | 10.84% | 5,429 | 15 10 ASEAN members Australia China( Hong Kong)( Macau) Japan New Zealand South Korea |
| ALADI | 499,807,662 | 2,823,198,095,131 | 3,292,088,771,480 | 16.61% | 6,587 | 12 4 CAN members5 MERCOSUL members Chile Cuba Mexico |
| AFTZ | 553,915,405 | 643,541,709,413 | 739,927,625,273 | 14.98% | 1,336 | 26 5 EAC members5 SACU members Angola Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Eritrea Ethiopia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Seychelles Sudan Zambia Zimbabwe |
| APTA | 2,714,464,027 | 4,868,614,302,744 | 5,828,692,637,764 | 19.72% | 2,147 | 6  Bangladesh China( Hong Kong)( Macau) India Laos Sri Lanka South Korea |
| CARIFORUM-EUCU-OCTs | 592,083,950 | 15,437,771,092,522 | 17,798,283,524,961 | 15.29% | 30,060 | 67 12 CCCM members33 EUCU members3 OII members  Anguilla Aruba Bahamas British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Dominican Republic Falkland Islands French Southern and Antarctic Lands Greenland Mayotte Montserrat Netherlands Antilles Pitcairn Islands Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Saint Pierre and Miquelon Turks and Caicos Islands |
| CACM | 37,388,063 | 87,209,524,889 | 97,718,800,794 | 12.05% | 2,614 | 5  Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua |
| CEFTA | 27,968,711 | 110,263,802,023 | 135,404,501,031 | 22.80% | 4,841 | 8  Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Kosovo North Macedonia Moldova Montenegro Serbia |
| CISFTA | 272,897,834 | 1,271,909,586,018 | 1,661,429,920,721 | 30.62% | 6,088 | 11 6 EAEC members Armenia Azerbaijan Georgia Ukraine Moldova |
| DR-CAFTA-US | 356,964,477 | 13,345,469,865,037 | 14,008,686,684,089 | 4.97% | 39,244 | 7 5 CACM members Dominican Republic United States( Puerto Rico) |
| ECOWAS | 283,096,250 | 215,999,071,943 | 255,784,634,128 | 18.42% | 904 | 15 8 UEMOA members Cape Verde Gambia Ghana Guinea Liberia Nigeria Sierra Leone |
| EEA (EU + EFTA) | 499,620,521 | 14,924,076,504,592 | 17,186,876,431,709 | 15.16% | 34,400 | 30 27 EU members Iceland Liechtenstein Norway |
| EFTA-SACU | 68,199,991 | 1,021,509,931,918 | 1,139,385,636,888 | 11.54% | 16,707 | 9 4 EFTA members5 SACU members |
| EAEC | 207,033,990 | 1,125,634,333,117 | 1,465,256,182,498 | 30.17% | 7,077 | 6  Belarus Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Russia Tajikistan Uzbekistan |
| USMCA | 449,227,672 | 15,337,094,304,218 | 16,189,097,801,318 | 5.56% | 36,038 | 3  Canada Mexico United States( Puerto Rico) |
| TPP | 25,639,622 | 401,810,366,865 | 468,101,167,294 | 16.50% | 18,257 | 4  Brunei Chile New Zealand Singapore |
| SAARC | 1,567,187,373 | 1,162,684,650,544 | 1,428,392,756,312 | 22.85% | 911 | 8  Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka |
| SPARTECA | 35,079,659 | 918,557,785,031 | 1,102,745,750,172 | 20.05% | 31,435 | 21 3 OII members12 PICTA members Australia Marshall Islands New Zealand Palau Timor-Leste Tokelau |
| Pacific Alliance | 218,649,115 | 1,371,197,216,140 | 1,525,825,175,045 | 11.28% | 6,978 | 4  Colombia Chile Peru Mexico |

## Comparison between regional trade blocs

$^1$ not all members participating $^2$ involving goods, services, telecommunications, transport (full liberalisation of railways from 2012), energy (full liberalisation from 2007) $^3$ telecommunications, transport and energy - proposed $^4$ sensitive goods to be covered from 2019
$^5$ least developed members to join from 2012
$^6$ least developed members to join from 2017
$^7$ Additionally some non member states also participate (the European Union, EFTA have overlapping membership and various common initiatives regarding the European integration). $^8$ Additionally some non member states also participate (ASEAN Plus Three) $^9$ Limited to "entitled persons" and duration of one year.