After the negotiations: assessing the impact of free trade agreements in Southern Africa

After protracted and difficult negotiations, agreement was recently reached on the dimensions of a South African-EU free trade deal. Because of South Africa's prominence in the sub-region, implementation of this agreement will have an impact not only on South Africa, but on all the SADC economies. T...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lewis, Jeffrey D., Robinson, Sherman, Thierfelder, Karen
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 1999
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161266
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author Lewis, Jeffrey D.
Robinson, Sherman
Thierfelder, Karen
author_browse Lewis, Jeffrey D.
Robinson, Sherman
Thierfelder, Karen
author_facet Lewis, Jeffrey D.
Robinson, Sherman
Thierfelder, Karen
author_sort Lewis, Jeffrey D.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description After protracted and difficult negotiations, agreement was recently reached on the dimensions of a South African-EU free trade deal. Because of South Africa's prominence in the sub-region, implementation of this agreement will have an impact not only on South Africa, but on all the SADC economies. This paper traces how this impact may be felt over time, using a multi-region model constructed to focus on the determination of sectoral and geographic trade patterns. By separatelymodeling South Africa and the rest of southern Africa, the model can be used to evaluate how alternative SADC regional trade strategies can influence how the EU deal affects the region's economies; by distinguishing among major trading partners (EU, North America, East Asia), the simulations can help illuminate how the trade deal will likely affect current trade patterns The empirical results lead to a number of conclusions: (1) trade creation dominates trade diversion for the region under all FTA arrangements; (2) the rest of southern Africa benefits from an FTA between the EU and South Africa — the recently signed bilateral agreement is not a “beggar thy neighbor” policy; (3) the rest of southern Africa gains more from zero-tariff access to EU markets than from a partial (50 percent) reduction in global tariffs; and (4) the South African economy is not large enough to serve as a growth pole for the region. Access to EU markets provides substantially bigger gains for the rest of southern Africa than does access to South Africa.
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spelling CGSpace1612662025-11-06T07:24:54Z After the negotiations: assessing the impact of free trade agreements in Southern Africa Lewis, Jeffrey D. Robinson, Sherman Thierfelder, Karen trade policies trade liberalization After protracted and difficult negotiations, agreement was recently reached on the dimensions of a South African-EU free trade deal. Because of South Africa's prominence in the sub-region, implementation of this agreement will have an impact not only on South Africa, but on all the SADC economies. This paper traces how this impact may be felt over time, using a multi-region model constructed to focus on the determination of sectoral and geographic trade patterns. By separatelymodeling South Africa and the rest of southern Africa, the model can be used to evaluate how alternative SADC regional trade strategies can influence how the EU deal affects the region's economies; by distinguishing among major trading partners (EU, North America, East Asia), the simulations can help illuminate how the trade deal will likely affect current trade patterns The empirical results lead to a number of conclusions: (1) trade creation dominates trade diversion for the region under all FTA arrangements; (2) the rest of southern Africa benefits from an FTA between the EU and South Africa — the recently signed bilateral agreement is not a “beggar thy neighbor” policy; (3) the rest of southern Africa gains more from zero-tariff access to EU markets than from a partial (50 percent) reduction in global tariffs; and (4) the South African economy is not large enough to serve as a growth pole for the region. Access to EU markets provides substantially bigger gains for the rest of southern Africa than does access to South Africa. 1999 2024-11-21T09:54:32Z 2024-11-21T09:54:32Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161266 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Lewis, Jeffrey D.; Robinson, Sherman; Thierfelder, Karen. 1999. After the negotiations;assessing the impact of free trade agreements in Southern Africa. TMD Discussion Paper 46. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161266
spellingShingle trade policies
trade liberalization
Lewis, Jeffrey D.
Robinson, Sherman
Thierfelder, Karen
After the negotiations: assessing the impact of free trade agreements in Southern Africa
title After the negotiations: assessing the impact of free trade agreements in Southern Africa
title_full After the negotiations: assessing the impact of free trade agreements in Southern Africa
title_fullStr After the negotiations: assessing the impact of free trade agreements in Southern Africa
title_full_unstemmed After the negotiations: assessing the impact of free trade agreements in Southern Africa
title_short After the negotiations: assessing the impact of free trade agreements in Southern Africa
title_sort after the negotiations assessing the impact of free trade agreements in southern africa
topic trade policies
trade liberalization
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161266
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