You economic blocks, also known as regional agreements, are formal and consolidated groupings, composed of countries that act together in the commercial plan from the most different strategies, depending on the type of block formed and the degree of insertion of their respective members.
Because they are regionalized agreements with a limited scope, it was considered, for a certain time, that the economic blocs functioned as a limitation to the advance of globalization around the world, since the apparent trend was the isolation of these groups in different fields of business and economy in general.
see more
Inequality: IBGE discloses the 10 worst states to…
Israel is the 4th strongest military power in the world; check the ranking
However, we can say, today, that regional agreements are one of the main aspects of economic globalization that was consolidated, mainly, from the 1980s onwards.
These agreements, after all, carry out a structural integration (transport and communication) between their members, who often start to act together in the international scope.
Regional agreements can be classified according to their different levels of economic, political and commercial integration.
These characteristics often depend not only on a choice of countries, but on the territorial capacity and available infrastructure to promote greater approximation to each other.
Thus, the blocs can be classified into Free Trade Zone, Customs Union, Common Market, Economic and Monetary Union.
ADVERTISING
Free Trade Zone
It aims at reducing or completely eliminating tariffs imposed on products traded between member countries. It is considered a simple agreement that is restricted to the commercial and tax field.
An example is NAFTA which, as we will see later, is composed of U.S, Mexico and Canada.
Customs union
It works under the same terms as a Customs Zone, with the addition of also inserting the so-called Common External Tariff (TEC), which is a standardized commercial rate for a group of countries. Thus, all members of the same bloc adopt the same customs tax rate for non-EU countries. members, generating greater cooperation in trade relations and avoiding competition at regional.
O Mercosur is an example of an economic bloc that applies the TEC among its effective members.
Common Market
ADVERTISING
It is an economic bloc that practices the free movement of goods, goods and services between countries. At its highest point of development, a common market also allows for the free movement of people without restrictions between border regions.
The only example, currently, of a bloc with these conditions is the European Union.
Economic and Monetary Union
It is a common market with the differential of, in addition to all the characteristics mentioned above, also present a common currency for commercial use and the consequent creation of a Central Bank unified.
The European Union, since the creation of the Euro, has also come to be considered as an economic and monetary union, although not all member countries adopt the bloc's currency.
There are a lot of economic blocks spread around the world. Some countries even form part of two blocs at the same time, like the NAFTA members who, at the same time, are also part of APEC, as can be seen below.
Among so many regional agreements, we gave special emphasis to the five main ones: European Union, NAFTA, Mercosur, APEC and CIS.
Founded in 1951 under the name of Economic Community of Coal and SteelO (ECSC), after the creation of the Benelux (economic bloc formed by Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg), it became the European Common Market, in 1957, by the Treaty of Rome. In 1993, by the Treaty of Maastricht, it finally became the European Union, with the implementation of the Euro in 2002.
This is the most advanced block in terms of economic and political integration. In many cases, its members act and pass resolutions together on international diplomatic situations. As we have already said, in this block there is free movement of people, goods, capital and goods.
Currently, 27 countries are part of the EU (the UK left on January 31, 2020):
1 — Germany
2 — Austria
3 — Belgium
4 — Bulgaria
5 — Czechia
6 — Cyprus
7 — Croatia
8 — Denmark
9 — Slovakia
10 — Slovenia
11 — Spain
12 — Estonia
13 — Finland
14 — France
15 — Greece
16 — Hungary
17 — Ireland
18 — Italy
19 — Latvia
20 — Lithuania
21 — Luxembourg
22 — Malta
23 — Netherlands
24 — Poland
25 — Portugal
26 — Romania
27 — Sweden
19 of the 27 countries have the Euro as their official currency and are therefore part of the so-called euro area (or eurozone).
O NAPHTHA, acronym for North American Free Trade Agreement, was formed in 1994 and is composed of the United States, Mexico and Canada.
This economic bloc was created with the intention of implementing only one free trade zone, with the elimination of customs barriers, and served to increase US investment in Mexico, as well as to increase Mexican exports to the United States.
NAFTA, however, does not intend to evolve to other more advanced levels of economic blocks. While the European Union allows the free movement of people, in North America, Americans even built a wall on their southern border to try to contain the entry of illegal Mexican migrants into their country. territory.
It was created in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción in a merger of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and today, as we have already said, it represents an Economic and Customs Union.
In addition to the four founding members, the Mercosur Venezuela has been an effective member since 2012, following the request made by the country in 2006.
Associate members of the bloc — those who do not adopt CET, but only free trade in some products — are: Bolivia (in the process of becoming a member country), Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Suriname.
The bloc's observer countries are: Mexico and New Zealand, which only follow the meetings and are not part of the agreements.
Founded in 1989 and consolidated in 1994, APEC, which stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, acts as an area of cooperation between the countries bathed by the Pacific Ocean in the Americas, Asia and Oceania.
It is the largest economic block in the world in terms of the sum of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the wealth of its member countries, as it has the presence of several "giants" of the world economy, such as the USA, China, Japan and Australia.
Despite the potential that this bloc has in relation to the greatness of its member countries, APEC does not present a great relevance in the international scenario due to the lack of integration and the conflict of interests between its members. Many of them focus their concerns on other regional agreements to which they are also party.
The member countries of APEC are:
1 — Australia
2 — Brunei
3 — Canada
4 — United States
5 — Indonesia
6 — Japan
7 — South Korea
8 — Malaysia
9 — New Zealand
10 — Philippines
11 — Singapore
12 — Thailand
13 — Chinese Taipei
14 — Hong Kong
15 — People's Republic of China
16 — Mexico
17 — Papua New Guinea
18 — Chile
19 — Peru
20 — Russia
21 — Vietnam
It is an economic bloc formed by the former republics of the extinct Soviet Union, which had developed industrially from a great territorial integration between its different areas. Therefore, currently, most of these countries are interdependent with each other.
Of the republics that were part of the socialist country, only Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania did not join the CIS, in addition to Georgia, which left the bloc.
The member countries of the CIS are:
1 — Armenia
2 — Belarus
3 — Kazakhstan
4 — Russia
5 — Russian Federation
6 — Moldova
7 — Kyrgyzstan
8 — Uzbekistan
9 — Tajikistan
10 — Turkmenistan
11 — Ukraine
12 — Uzbekistan (since 1991)
13 — Georgia
14 — Azerbaijan (since 1993)
The agreements, in addition to greater commercial integration, include military protection, but guarantee complete political independence.
See more:
