Trade bloc facts for kids

A trade bloc is like a special club for countries. In this club, countries agree to make it easier to trade with each other. They do this by lowering or getting rid of things that make trade hard, like tariffs (which are taxes on goods coming into a country) or other rules that slow down trade.

These trade clubs can be simple agreements between a few countries, like the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement). Or, they can be part of a bigger group, like the European Union. Depending on how closely countries want to work together, trade blocs can be different types. They can be areas where trade is just a little bit easier, or they can be groups that act almost like one big market.

What Trade Blocs Do

Stages of economic integration around the World (each country colored according to the most integrated agreement that it participates in):      Economic and monetary union (ECCU/XCD, Eurozone/EUR, Switzerland–Liechtenstein/CHF)      Economic union (CSME, EAEU, EU, GCC, Mercosur, SICA)      Common market (EEA–Switzerland)      Customs and monetary union (CEMAC/XAF, UEMOA/XOF)      Customs union (CAN, EAC, EUCU, SACU)      Multilateral free-trade area (AANZFTA, ASEAN, CEFTA, CISFTA, COMESA, CPTPP, EFTA, GAFTA, PAFTA, RCEP, SADCFTA, SAFTA, USMCA)

Trade blocs have been around for a long time! For example, the Hanseatic League was a powerful trade group in Northern Europe from the 1100s to the 1600s. Another example is the German Customs Union, which helped German states trade better in the 1800s.

Many new trade blocs started forming in the 1960s, 1970s, and again in the 1990s. By 1997, more than half of all global trade happened within these regional groups.

Experts say that successful trade blocs often have a few things in common:

• Countries have similar levels of wealth (measured by GNP).
• They are geographically close to each other.
• They have similar or compatible rules for trading.
• They are committed to working together as a region.

Some people who support global free trade don't like trade blocs. They think these blocs make it easier for countries in the group to trade with each other, but harder for them to trade with countries outside the group. However, other experts believe that trade blocs can actually help the global trading system grow.

Understanding Trade Bloc Terms

It's helpful to know some special words used for trade blocs:

Common Market Explained

A common market is a step where countries in a trade bloc work even more closely together. It's like moving towards becoming one big market.

Single Market Explained

A single market is a type of trade bloc where most trade barriers for goods are gone. It also means that people, money, and services can move freely between the countries. This makes it much easier for businesses to operate across borders.

Trade Bloc Statistics

Selection of GDP PPP data (top 10 countries and blocs) in no particular order

This table shows some interesting facts about different trade blocs, including their population and how much money they make (Gross Domestic Product or GDP).

This list is based on the data obtained from  Statistics Division.

Trade bloc	Population	Gross domestic product (USD)				Members
		2006	2007	growth	per capita
Economic and monetary unions
EMU	324,879,195	10,685,946,928,310	12,225,304,229,686	14.41%	37,630	17  Austria  Belgium  Cyprus  Estonia  Finland  France  Germany  Greece  Ireland  Italy  Luxembourg  Malta  Netherlands  Portugal  Slovakia  Slovenia  Spain
OECS (sovereign states)	593,905	3,752,679,562	3,998,281,731	6.54%	6,732	6  Antigua and Barbuda  Dominica  Grenada  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Saint Lucia  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
OII	504,476	12,264,278,329	14,165,953,200	15.51%	28,081	3  French Polynesia  New Caledonia  Wallis and Futuna
CCCM	6,418,417	39,616,485,623	43,967,600,765	10.98%	6,850	12 6 OECS members  Barbados  Belize  Guyana  Jamaica  Suriname  Trinidad and Tobago
Customs and monetary unions
CEMAC	39,278,645	51,265,460,685	58,519,380,755	14.15%	1,490	6  Cameroon  Central African Republic  Chad  Republic of the Congo  Equatorial Guinea  Gabon
UEMOA	90,299,945	50,395,629,494	58,453,871,283	15.99%	647	8  Benin  Burkina Faso  Côte d'Ivoire  Guinea-Bissau  Mali  Niger  Senegal  Togo
Customs unions
CAN	96,924,486	281,269,141,372	334,172,968,648	18.81%	3,448	4  Bolivia  Colombia  Ecuador  Peru
EAC	127,107,838	49,882,030,443	61,345,180,041	22.98%	483	5  Burundi  Kenya  Rwanda  Tanzania  Uganda
EUCU	574,602,745	15,331,827,900,202	17,679,376,474,719	15.31%	30,768	33 30 EEA members  Andorra  San Marino  Turkey
GCC	36,154,528	724,460,151,595	802,641,302,477	10.79%	22,200	6  Bahrain  Kuwait  Oman  Qatar  Saudi Arabia  United Arab Emirates
MERCOSUR	271,304,946	1,517,510,000,000	1,886,817,000,000	12.44%	9,757	5  Argentina  Brazil  Paraguay  Uruguay  Venezuela
SACU	58,000,000	1,499,811,549,187	1,848,337,158,281	23.24%	6,885	5  Botswana  Lesotho  Namibia  South Africa  Swaziland
Preferential trade areas and Free trade areas
AANZFTA-ASEAN+3	2,085,858,841	10,216,029,899,764	11,323,947,181,804	10.84%	5,429	15 10 ASEAN members  Australia  China ( Hong Kong) ( Macau)  Japan  New Zealand  South Korea
ALADI	499,807,662	2,823,198,095,131	3,292,088,771,480	16.61%	6,587	12 4 CAN members 5 MERCOSUL members  Chile  Cuba Mexico
AFTZ	553,915,405	643,541,709,413	739,927,625,273	14.98%	1,336	26 5 EAC members 5 SACU members  Angola  Comoros  Democratic Republic of the Congo  Djibouti  Egypt  Eritrea  Ethiopia  Libya  Madagascar  Malawi  Mauritius  Mozambique  Seychelles  Sudan  Zambia  Zimbabwe
APTA	2,714,464,027	4,868,614,302,744	5,828,692,637,764	19.72%	2,147	6  Bangladesh  China ( Hong Kong) ( Macau)  India  Laos  Sri Lanka  South Korea
CARIFORUM-EUCU-OCTs	592,083,950	15,437,771,092,522	17,798,283,524,961	15.29%	30,060	67 12 CCCM members 33 EUCU members 3 OII members  Anguilla  Aruba  Bahamas  British Antarctic Territory  British Indian Ocean Territory  British Virgin Islands  Cayman Islands  Dominican Republic  Falkland Islands  French Southern and Antarctic Lands  Greenland  Mayotte  Montserrat  Netherlands Antilles  Pitcairn Islands  Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha  South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands  Saint Pierre and Miquelon  Turks and Caicos Islands
CACM	37,388,063	87,209,524,889	97,718,800,794	12.05%	2,614	5  Costa Rica  El Salvador  Guatemala  Honduras  Nicaragua
CEFTA	27,968,711	110,263,802,023	135,404,501,031	22.80%	4,841	8  Albania  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Croatia  Kosovo  Macedonia Moldova  Montenegro  Serbia
CISFTA	272,897,834	1,271,909,586,018	1,661,429,920,721	30.62%	6,088	11 6 EAEC members  Armenia  Azerbaijan  Georgia  Ukraine Moldova
DR-CAFTA-US	356,964,477	13,345,469,865,037	14,008,686,684,089	4.97%	39,244	7 5 CACM members  Dominican Republic  United States ( Puerto Rico)
ECOWAS	283,096,250	215,999,071,943	255,784,634,128	18.42%	904	15 8 UEMOA members  Cape Verde  Gambia  Ghana  Guinea  Liberia  Nigeria  Sierra Leone
EEA (EU + EFTA)	499,620,521	14,924,076,504,592	17,186,876,431,709	15.16%	34,400	30 27 EU members  Iceland  Liechtenstein  Norway
EFTA-SACU	68,199,991	1,021,509,931,918	1,139,385,636,888	11.54%	16,707	9 4 EFTA members 5 SACU members
EAEC	207,033,990	1,125,634,333,117	1,465,256,182,498	30.17%	7,077	6  Belarus  Kazakhstan  Kyrgyzstan  Russia  Tajikistan  Uzbekistan
USMCA	449,227,672	15,337,094,304,218	16,189,097,801,318	5.56%	36,038	3  Canada Mexico  United States ( Puerto Rico)
TPP	25,639,622	401,810,366,865	468,101,167,294	16.50%	18,257	4  Brunei  Chile  New Zealand  Singapore
SAARC	1,567,187,373	1,162,684,650,544	1,428,392,756,312	22.85%	911	8  Afghanistan  Bangladesh  Bhutan  India  Maldives  Nepal  Pakistan  Sri Lanka
SPARTECA	35,079,659	918,557,785,031	1,102,745,750,172	20.05%	31,435	21 3 OII members 12 PICTA members  Australia  Marshall Islands  New Zealand  Palau  Timor-Leste  Tokelau
Pacific Alliance	218,649,115	1,371,197,216,140	1,525,825,175,045	11.28%	6,978	4  Colombia  Chile  Peru Mexico

How Trade Blocs Compare

This table shows how different regional trade blocs work. It highlights if they have free trade, common markets, or even common currencies. It also shows if people can travel freely between member countries.

¹ not all members participating
² involving goods, services, telecommunications, transport (full liberalisation of railways from 2012), energy (full liberalisation from 2007)
³ telecommunications, transport and energy - proposed
⁴ sensitive goods to be covered from 2019
⁵ least developed members to join from 2012
⁶ least developed members to join from 2017
⁷ Additionally some non member states also participate (the European Union, EFTA have overlapping membership and various common initiatives regarding the European integration).
⁸ Additionally some non member states also participate (ASEAN Plus Three)
⁹ Limited to "entitled persons" and duration of one year.

See also

In Spanish: Bloque comercial para niños

• Regional integration
• Continental union

Lists of Trade Blocs

• List of preferential trade areas
• Lists of free trade agreements
  • List of bilateral free trade agreements
  • List of multilateral free trade agreements
• List of customs unions
• List of common markets
• List of economic unions
• List of monetary unions
• List of customs and monetary unions
• List of economic and monetary unions

Images for kids

• 

  Monetary unions

• 

  Customs unions worldwide

• 

  Free trade areas worldwide

• 

  Mercosur