Lebanon has traditionally been a country with a free and open trade regime. Efforts towards trade liberalization have focused on the European Union (EU), the WTO, and the Arab world.
Lebanon has neither a free trade arrangement nor a bilateral investment treaty with the United States. In December 2006, the two countries signed a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), but the TIFA never came into force.
Lebanon gained observer status to the WTO in 1999, but the accession process has stalled since then.
Lebanon’s Euro-Mediterranean Partnership agreement came into force in April 2006. The agreement provides for reciprocal free trade on the majority of industrial goods. It also liberalizes trade on a large basket of agricultural and processed agricultural goods. The Euro-Med Partnership aims at establishing a free trade area for the Mediterranean region; efforts to achieve this goal are ongoing.
Lebanon and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2004. In 2010, Lebanon and Turkey signed an association agreement to establish a free trade area and reduce barriers to the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people between the two countries over the subsequent ten years. The agreement is not yet ratified. Lebanon also signed the Greater Arab Free Trade Agreement, which gradually replaced the bilateral FTAs signed with Arab countries including Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Sudan, and the Gulf Cooperation Council states. A regional Economic and Trade Association Council between Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey was announced in 2010. However, given the outbreak of the Syrian crisis, this agreement did not enter into force. Lebanon launched free trade agreement negotiations with MERCOSUR countries in 2016.
Lebanon has signed bilateral investment agreements with the following (in alphabetical order): Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium/Luxembourg, Benin, Bulgaria, Canada, Chad, Chile, China, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Greece, Guinea, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Italy, Jordan, Korea (South), Kuwait, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Netherlands, OPEC Fund, Pakistan, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sudan, Sultanate of Oman, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Yemen. For more information, please visit the Ministry of Finance’s website.
Lebanon does not have a bilateral taxation treaty with the United States. A full list of all the countries with which Lebanon has signed taxation agreements can be found on the Ministry of Finance’s website.