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Free Trade Agreement Overview
For the United States, the goal of trade agreements is to reduce barriers to U.S. exports, protect U.S. interests competing abroad, and enhance the rule of law in the FTA partner country or countries.   
Who are U.S. FTA partners?

Free Trade Agreement Overview  

Selling to U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTAs) partner countries can help your company to enter and compete more easily in the global marketplace through reduced trade barriers. U.S. FTAs address a variety of foreign government activities that affect your business: reduced tariffs, stronger intellectual property protection, opportunities for U.S. exporter input in the development of FTA partner country product standards, fair treatment for U.S. investors, enhanced opportunities to compete for foreign government procurements, and opportunities for U.S. service companies.                  

Download Video: Introduction to Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)
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What are Free Trade Agreements?                                                         

A Free trade Agreement (FTA) is an agreement between two or more countries where the countries agree on certain obligations that affect trade in goods and services, and protections for investors and intellectual property rights, among other topics. For the United States, the main goal of trade agreements is to reduce barriers to U.S. exports, protect U.S. interests competing abroad, and enhance the rule of law in the FTA partner country or countries.  

Currently, the United States has 14 FTAs with 20 countries. FTAs can help your company to enter and compete more easily in the global marketplace through zero or reduced tariffs and other provisions. While the specifics of each FTA vary, they generally provide for the reduction of trade barriers and the creation of a more predictable and transparent trading and investment environment. This makes it easier and cheaper for U.S. companies to export their products and services to trading partner markets. 

Key Benefits of Free Trade Agreements                                                                             

FTA benefits for your product may require more record-keeping but can also give your product a competitive advantage versus products from other countries. U.S. FTAs typically address a wide variety of government activities that affect your business: 

  • Reduction or elimination of tariffs on qualified goods. For example, a country that normally charges a tariff of 12% of the value of the imported product will eliminate that tariff for products that originate (as defined in the FTA) in the United States. This makes your products competitive in the market. 
  • Intellectual Property Protection: protection and enforcement of American-owned intellectual property rights in the FTA partner country. 
  • Product Standards:  the ability for U.S. exporters to participate in the development of product standards in the FTA partner country. 
  • Selling to the government:  the ability for a U.S. company to bid on certain government procurements in the FTA partner country. 
  • Service companies: the ability for U.S. service suppliers to supply their services in the FTA partner country. 
  • Fair treatment for U.S. investors providing they be treated as favorably as the FTA partner country treats its own investors and their investments or investors and investments from any third country.  

View the listing of FTA countries and requirements to receive preferential treatment.  

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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