The product scope of the WTO has gradually expanded since 1948 through a series of negotiating rounds the current one is known as the Doha “ development round”, which commenced in 2001. The WTO currently has 159 members, who exchange tariff preferences in line with the non-discriminatory “ most-favoured-nation” principle. Historically, multilateralism has been the dominant approach, embodied in the World Trade Organisation. Each strategy carries a mix of benefits and costs. There are multiple ways for governments to advance free trade trade liberalisation can be negotiated via multilateral, bilateral or regional mechanisms. So, where should Australia’s priorities lie? Given limited bureaucratic and diplomatic resources, it would be both difficult and inadvisable to spread efforts evenly across the range of proposals. This is a very crowded trade policy agenda, characterised by complex, overlapping - and sometimes competitive - initiatives. It has also open bilateral trade negotiations with five of its most important economic partners – China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, and India.
It’s a participant in the ongoing Doha round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks, and a party to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations in Asia. Calling the trade minister Australia’s “ ambassador for jobs”, the Coalition has staked its economic and foreign policy credibility on the promise to finalise a series of free trade deals that made limited progress under former Labor governments.īut Australia already has a lot of trade on its plate. One of the first acts of Tony Abbott’s government was to declare it intended to “ embrace free trade” in its first term in office.