Do Free Trade Agreements Benefit Developing Countries? An Examination of U.S. Agreements

by Kayode Ajewole, Jayson Beckman, Adam Gerval, William Johnson, Stephen Morgan, and Ethan Sabala

This report uses trend analysis to see whether movements in trade, production, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data are consistent with the concept that free trade agreements (FTAs) produce beneficial effects for developing countries—focusing on FTA agreements between developing countries and the United States. Agricultural trade for U.S. imports and exports generally increased in the FTAs analyzed for this report.

Errata: On February 15, 2023, a calculation error in figure 18 was corrected for post-CAFTA-DR sugar production. No other aspects of the report were affected by the error.

Keywords: Free trade agreement, FTA, specialization, trade, production

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