Bilateral or multilateral trade agreements are usually concluded between the largest supplier and/or importer of raw materials. The International Wheat Agreement is an ideal example. According to this agreement, the maximum price at which exporting countries are guaranteed to make a certain quantity of wheat available to importing countries and the minimum price at which importers are prepared to purchase certain quantities of wheat from exporters. Multilateral treaties should increase trade. However, they have not been able to fully exploit the trade benefits expected by the United States. As a result of NAFTA, many manufacturing jobs in the U.S. went to Mexico, which emptied many developed countries here after NAFTA came into force. A multilateral treaty establishes guidelines for the setting of minimum and maximum purchase prices so that importers have an indication of the guaranteed purchase quantities and producer countries know what guaranteed quantities they will sell to importers. Multilateral negotiations are the most effective way to liberalize trade in an interdependent global economy, as concessions in a bilateral or regional agreement can undermine concessions made to another trading partner in a previous agreement. It is also important to mention that regional trade agreements take place within the framework of multilateral trade agreements, and this is the case, for example, with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the European Union (EU). The most important organization for multilateral negotiations, agreements and treaties is the WTO. This organization has a unified set of agreements to which all members are committed and applies global rules for international trade. The main requirements are to remove barriers to trade between nations and to ensure that Member States act in accordance with the prescribed rules.
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is the basic multilateral treaty among WTO Members (Farm Foundation, 2002, ITCD online 2004, Carbaugh, 2004). Bilateral free trade agreements are therefore unlikely to bring significant benefits to the Australian economy as a whole. Joint Statement on Cross-border EIA and SUP between the Netherlands and Germany (2013) Based on the above points, we can say that bilateral trade refers to trade in goods and services between two countries that promote trade and investment. Therefore, both countries increase or decrease trade barriers such as tariffs, quotas, export restrictions, etc. The main advantage of these agreements is the expansion of markets for a country`s products through joint negotiations between two countries. Their goal is to expand regional free trade agreements, are the third option. Halfway between multilateralism and bilateralism, it is a group of countries within a geographical region negotiating a free trade area. The World Trade Organization (WTO), the best-known multilateral trade organization, is under enormous pressure to liberalize world trade and markets. The main theme of the negotiations in Geneva and Brussels in April 2006 was the liberalisation of the market for agricultural and industrial raw materials. The organization strives to reduce agricultural subsidies and export opportunities for raw materials and industrial services.
Due to the sharp reduction in tariffs, the WTO is the subject of a major critical debate. Their behavior leads to a deepening crisis because they do not heed warnings of deindustrialization in developing countries and the decline of industries that are still in the growth phase and are not yet competitive. The various intellectual property treaties and the WTO agreement are totally ineffective. This could explain President Trump`s shift from a supporter of multilateral treaties to bilateral agreements. China is the main violator of the WTO and intellectual property agreements. In the first 15 years of its WTO membership, only China achieved a unilateral victory result and not a win-win situation with the United States and the rest of the world. .