trade bloc

(noun)

A trade bloc is a type of intergovernmental agreement, often part of a regional intergovernmental organization, where regional barriers to trade, (tariffs and non-tariff barriers) are reduced or eliminated among the participating states.

Related Terms

Examples of trade bloc in the following topics:

  • Trade Blocs and Common Markets

    • A trade bloc is an agreement where regional barriers to trade are reduced or eliminated among the participating states.
    • The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an example of a formal trade bloc.
    • However, entering a trade bloc also strengthens ties between member parties.
    • For better or for worse, trade blocs are prevalent.
    • Since 1997, more than 50% of all world commerce was conducted under the auspices of regional trade blocs, such as NAFTA.

  • Global Trade: Inequalities and Conflict

    • Global trade (exchange across international borders) has increased with better transportation and governments adopting free trade.
    • The United States is party to many trade agreements, but one of the best known is the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
    • Like other free trade agreements, NAFTA promotes free trade among members, which include the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
    • But as trade has become more global and more complex, trade negotiations have expanded to include more countries.
    • Analyze the impact of global trade on society and industry, ranging from mercantilism to free trade orientation

  • Resocialization and Total Institutions

    • Within a total institution, the basic needs of a entire bloc of people are under bureaucratic control.

  • Hispanics as a Political Force

    • Hispanics are often classified as a unitary voting bloc, but there are differences in political preferences within this community.

  • Political Parties

    • A two-party system requires voters to align themselves in large blocs, sometimes so large that they cannot agree on any overarching principles.
    • In these nations, multiple political parties have often formed coalitions for the purpose of developing power blocs for governing.

  • Distribution of Wealth and Income

    • Motivations for such limitations on wealth include the desire for equality of opportunity, a fear that great wealth leads to political corruption, the belief that limiting wealth will gain the political favor of a voting bloc, or fear that extreme concentration of wealth results in rebellion.

  • Gender Inequality in Politics

    • In other words, "women" are supposed to have certain political priorities (usually those having to do with children and education) that unite all women as a voting bloc, or a group of individuals who tend to vote in the same way.

  • Preindustrial Cities

    • While ancient cities may have arisen organically as trading centers, preindustrial cities evolved to become well defined political units, like today's states.
    • Those that did often benefited from trade routes—in the early modern era, larger capital cities benefited from new trade routes and grew even larger.
    • While the city-states, or poleis, of the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea languished from the 16th century, Europe's larger capitals benefited from the growth of commerce following the emergence of an Atlantic trade.
    • Examine the growth of preindustrial cities as political units, as well as how trade routes allowed certain cities to expand and grow

  • Using computers

    • Suppose, for a simple example, we had information about trade-flows of 50 different commodities (e.g. coffee, sugar, tea, copper, bauxite) among the 170 or so nations of the world system in a given year.
    • A social scientist might be interested in whether the "structures" of trade in mineral products are more similar to one another than, the structure of trade in mineral products are to vegetable products.

  • Mexico's Economy

    • Some social scientists have found that poorly-compensated Mexican farm laborers are made to work under potentially unsafe conditions to meet the demand for produce in wealthier trading nations, such as the United States.
    • If substantiated, this would be evidence that international trade has not improved the standard of living for all Mexicans..
    • Trade liberalization continued after that, with several free trade agreements with Latin American and European countries, Japan, and Israel signed during former President Vincente Fox's leadership (2000-2006).
    • Thus, Mexico became one of the most open countries in the world to trade, and the economic base shifted accordingly to exports and imports .
    • Since liberalizing its trade policies beginning in the 1980s, Mexico has entered into Free Trade Agreements with many countries.