U.S. Companies May Benefit from
U.S. Free Trade Agreements

Free Trade Agreements can help open markets and expand opportunities for American companies and can help your company enter and compete more easily in the global marketplace. As part of the world’s largest single economy, U.S. companies may benefit from the favorable trading, duty, customs and other benefits of Free Trade Agreements to which the United States is a party.


Trade agreements can strengthen the business climate by including commitments on issues of concern along with the reduction and elimination of tariffs. Trade agreements may also include benefits and commitments in such areas as:


  • Improving intellectual property right protection for your company’s products in the global market
  • Benefits of Government procurement
  • Opening of service sectors in countries normally restrictive in their access to service markets
  • Favorable rules on foreign investment in countries that are signatories to such Trade Agreements with the United States
  • Improved Customs handling and processing in countries that are signatories to such Trade Agreements with the United States
  • Better protection for U.S. companies in dispute resolutions

The United States is party to many bi-lateral and multi-lateral trade agreements. Countries with which the U.S. has active bi-lateral trade agreements include:


  • Australia
  • Bahrain
  • Chile
  • Israel
  • Jordan
  • Morocco
  • Peru
  • Oman
  • Singapore

The active multi-lateral trade agreements that the U.S. has signed include:


  • The North American Free-Trade Agreement
  • The Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).
  • The U.S. is also party to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT, overseen by the WTO) along with 152 other countries.

U.S. Companies May Benefit in the Future from
U.S. Free Trade Agreements Now in Negotiation Stage

  • U.S. trade agreements with Panama, Korea, and Columbia are finalized and pending congressional approval.
  • The U.S. is also in current negotiations on trade agreements with Malaysia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) which includes Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland.

U.S. Companies May Benefit From Bilateral Commercial Treaties Between the United States and Individual Countries

The United States Government is party to a large number of Bilateral Commercial Treaties with other countries. Some are quite specific to quite specific industries or commercial activities. Others are of much broader scope and cover a wide range of commercial and trade activities. The United States Government enters into such agreements with the specific purpose of promoting clear and often preferential treatment for American companies and individuals trading in those countries. The United States is party to the following bilateral trade and commercial treaties (treaties of particular interest to our clients are in bold typeface):


As a public service to our readers, we are happy to provide, as a research and business development resource, the following text documents detailing bilateral commercial treaties between the United States and other specific countries. The following resource documents are PDF files and you must have Adobe Reader in order to read this documents.


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