Will ASEAN be Swallowed Up by the Trans-Pacific Partnership? ~ Akei | Society
“The emerging metaphor for the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) is that of a swan: elegant, graceful and apparently motionless. But below the surface of the water, the swan paddles actively. Such was the Singapore’s Minister of Trade & Industry’s description of ASEAN’s protracted efforts to reach tariff-free status by 2015. ASEAN ministers met 41 times in 2011 to negotiate the elimination of tariff barriers and address non-tariff barriers. But despite multiple meetings, accomplishments in the trade area are few. “
