ABSTRACT
A complex network of regional trade agreements (RTAs) spans our globalized world. For the most part, the scholarly literature refers to these as free trade agreements (FTAs), although they may potentially constitute a variety of market grouping and market integration constructs. Many of these RTAs emanate from the design of FTAs or customs unions, common markets, economic unions, currency unions, or other political or geo-economic constructs ruled under preferential trade agreements. The FTA is typically limited to the elimination of certain tariffs; the customs union also establishes a common customs duty; and each one of the above-cited constructs has its own politically negotiated variations. These variations, in essence, establish different types of level playing fi eld for fi rms with distinctive variants of harmonization effects that infl uence internal and external trade and investment conditions.
