Chile - Canada Free Trade Agreement And Its Implications For China

Since entering WTO, China gradually regards the positive effect of the bilateralfree trade agreement. After China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA), the China- AustraliaFree Trade Agreement is under negotiation. The Chile-Canada Free Trade Agreement(CCFTA) is a distinctive bilateral trade agreement. I wish to get some enlightenmentthrough the study of the content and characters of the agreement.The Chile-Canada Free Trade Agreement was signed on 18 November 1996, andentered into force on 5 July 1997. Among all the objectives, the most important one isto facilitate and promote Chile's accession to NAFTA. First I will introduce thehorizontal provisions under the CCFTA, and the provisions on investment,trade inservices and environment. Then through the comparison with NAFTA and WTO, wewill find the characters of the agreement. Because of its "interim" nature, theagreement closely follows the NAFTA model in term of structure, scope and coverage.However, there are some important differences between CCFTA and NAFTA. On theone hand, the CCFTA does not include Chapters on sanitary and phytosanitarymeasures, technical standards, government procurement, intellectual property andfinancial services- all matters that are covered by NAFTA. On the other hand, theCCFTA goes beyond NAFTA (and the WTO) in the very important area ofanti-dumping. Through the study of the agreement, we will get some enlightenment,for example, we can use the agreement's flexible mechanism on environment andtrade for reference, which fully considers the differences of economic level, technicallevel and environmental condition between two countries, which highly respects thedominion of member countries and recognizes each country has the right to set up itsown civil environmental level. We should pay attention to the traps during free tradeagreement negotiations and refuse those free trade agreements that are not free. Weshould also respect the world bilateral free trade trend.