Free trade agreements of the European Union

See also: European Union Customs Union

The European Union has concluded free trade agreements (FTAs)^[1] and other agreements with a trade component with many countries worldwide and is negotiating with many others.^[2] The European Union negotiates free trade deals on behalf of all of its member states, as the member states have granted the EU has an "exclusive competence" to conclude trade agreements. Even so, member states' governments control every step of the process (via the Council of the European Union, whose members are national ministers from each national government):

• Before negotiations start, member states' governments (via the Council of Ministers) approve the negotiating mandate;
• During negotiations, member states' governments are regularly briefed on the progress of negotiations and can update the negotiations mandate or suspend negotiations;
• Upon conclusion of negotiations, member states' governments decide whether the agreement should be signed;
• After approval from the European Parliament and (in case the agreement covers areas other than trade such as investment protection) upon ratification in each member state parliament, member states' governments decide whether the agreement should be concluded and enter into effect.

EU Free trade agreements

  European Union

  Agreement in force

  Agreement provisionally applied

  Agreement signed, but not applied

  Agreement initialed, not signed

  Agreement being negotiated

  Agreement negotiations on hold/suspended

Trade agreements in force

State	No of jurisdictions represented[a]	Signed	Provisional application	In force since	Notes	Relations
Akrotiri and Dhekelia	1	2003		2004[3][b]	Customs union
Albania	1	2006	2006[c]	2009[4]	SAA	Negotiating for EU accession
Algeria	1	2002		2005[5]	Euro-mediterranean AA
Andean Community  Colombia  Ecuador  Peru	3	2012[6]	2013, 2017	2024[7][8]	FTA[9][10]
Andorra	1	1990		1991[11]	Customs union	Andorra–EU relations
Angola	1	2023		2024[12]	SIFA
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1	2008	2008[c]	2015[13]	SAA	Candidate for EU accession
Central America  Costa Rica  Guatemala  Honduras  Nicaragua  Panama  El Salvador	6	2012	2013	2024[14]	AA	European Union Central American Association Agreement
Chile	1	2002, 2023	2003, 2024	2005[15] 2025[16]	AA,[17] Interim & Updated EU-Chile AA
Egypt	1	2001		2004[18]	Euro-mediterranean AA
Faroe Islands	1	1996		1997[19]	Autonomous entity of Denmark	Faroe Islands-EU relations
Georgia	1	2014	2014	2016[20]	AA incl DCFTA	Georgia–EU relations and Candidate for EU accession
Iceland	1	1992		1994[21]	EEA	Iceland–EU relations
Israel	1	1995	1996[c][22]	2000[23]	Euro-Mediterranean AA	Israel–EU relations
Japan	1	2018[24]		2019[25]	Economic Partnership Agreement [26]	Japan-EU relations
Jordan	1	1997		2002[27]	Euro-Mediterranean AA	Jordan–EU relations
Kenya	1	2023		2024	Economic Partnership Agreement
Kosovo	1	2015		2016[28]	SAA	Potential candidate for EU accession
Lebanon	1	2002		2006[29]	Euro-Mediterranean AA	Lebanon–EU relations
Liechtenstein	1	1992		1995[21]	EEA	Liechtenstein–EU relations
Mexico	1	1997		2000[30]	FTA[31][32]	Mexico–EU relations
Moldova	1	2014	2014	2016[33]	Moldova–European Union Association Agreement incl European Union–Moldova Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area	Moldova–EU relations and Negotiating for EU accession
Monaco	1			1958	Franco-Monegasque Customs Convention (customs union)[34]	Monaco–EU relations
Montenegro	1	2007	2008[c]	2010[35]	SAA	Negotiating for EU accession
Morocco	1	1996		2000[36]	Euro-Mediterranean AA	Morocco–EU relations
New Zealand	1	2023		2024[37]	FTA	New Zealand–EU relations
North Macedonia	1	2001	2001[c]	2004[38]	SAA	Negotiating for EU accession
Norway	1	1992		1994[21]	EEA	Norway–EU relations
EU's Overseas Countries and Territories	13	2001		2001[39][40]	Association of the OCTs with the EU
Palestinian Authority	1	1997		1997[41]	Euro-Mediterranean AA	Palestine–EU relations
San Marino	1	1991	1992[d]	2002[42]	Customs union	San Marino–EU relations
Serbia	1	2008	2010[c]	2013[43]	SAA	Negotiating for EU accession
Singapore	1	2018[44]		2019[45]	FTA[46]
South Africa	1	1999	2000[47]	2004[48]	ATDC[e]	South Africa–EU relations
South Korea	1	2010	2011	2015[49]	FTA[50]	South Korea–EU relations
Switzerland	1	1972		1973[51]	Trade agreement	Switzerland–EU relations
Tunisia	1	1995		1998[52]	Euro-Mediterranean AA
Turkey	1	1995[f]		1995[53]	Customs union	Turkey–EU relations
Ukraine	1	2014	2016	2017[54][55]	Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement incl DCFTA	Ukraine–EU relations and Negotiating for EU accession
United Kingdom[g]	1	2020	2021[56]	2021[57]	Trade and Cooperation Agreement	United Kingdom–EU relations
Vietnam	1	2019		2020[58]	EVFTA[59]	Vietnam–EU relations

Trade agreements provisionally applied

State	Signed	Provisional Application	Ratification	Notes	Relations
CARIFORUM States  Antigua and Barbuda  Bahamas  Barbados  Belize  Dominica  Dominican Republic  Grenada  Guyana  Jamaica  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Saint Lucia  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  Suriname  Trinidad and Tobago  Haiti	2008	2008	37 / 44 [60]	EPA - Croatia acceded to the agreement on 28 November 2017
Eastern and Southern Africa States  Comoros  Madagascar  Mauritius  Seychelles  Zambia[61]  Zimbabwe	2009	2012, 2019	5 / 35 [62]	Interim Agreement for establishing a framework for an EPA
Côte d'Ivoire	2009	2016	23 / 30 [63]	Stepping Stone EPA
Cameroon	2009	2014	21 / 30 [64]	Interim agreement with a view to an EPA
Pacific States  Fiji  Papua New Guinea  Samoa  Solomon Islands	2009	2009, 2014, 2018, 2020	4 / 5 [65]	Interim Partnership Agreement
South African Development Community members  Botswana  Lesotho  Mozambique  Namibia  South Africa  Swaziland	2016	2016	20 / 35 [66]	Economic Partnership Agreement
Ghana	2016	2016[67]	9 / 30 [67]	Stepping Stone EPA
Canada	2016	2017[68]	18 / 30 [69]	Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement[70]

Agreements finalised (negotiations concluded, but not signed)

State	Negotiations Concluded	Signed	Provisional Application	Ratification	Notes
Andorra  San Marino	December 2023	No	No		Association Agreement[71]
Economic Community of West African States members  Benin  Burkina Faso  Cabo Verde  Côte d'Ivoire  Gambia  Ghana  Guinea  Guinea-Bissau  Liberia  Mali  Mauritania  Niger  Nigeria  Senegal  Sierra Leone  Togo	6 February 2014		No	No	Economic Partnership Agreement[72]
East African Community members  Burundi  Kenya  Rwanda  Tanzania  Uganda	16 October 2014		No	Ratified by  Rwanda and  Kenya	Economic Partnership Agreement[73]
China	30 December 2020[74]	No	No	No	Comprehensive Agreement on Investment
Mercosur  Argentina  Bolivia  Brazil  Paraguay  Uruguay	28 June 2019[75]	No	No	No	European Union–Mercosur free trade agreement. Part of an Association Agreement.
Mexico	28 April 2020[76]	No	No	No	Updated Free Trade Agreement between Mexico and the European Union

Negotiating new agreements

State	New agreement being negotiated	Status
Australia	Australia Agreement	Negotiations launched in 2018[77]
India	Free Trade Agreement	Negotiations from 2007 to 2013;[78] restarted in 2022[79][80]
Indonesia	Free Trade Agreement	Negotiations launched in 2016[77]
Niue	Economic Partnership Agreements as part of the Pacific States Interim Partnership Agreement	Informed the EU of its intention to accede to the EPA.[81]
Philippines	Free Trade Agreement	Negotiations launched in 2015[77]
Timor-Leste	Economic Partnership Agreements as part of the Pacific States Interim Partnership Agreement	Informed the EU of its intention to accede to the EPA.[81]
Thailand	Free Trade Agreement	Negotiations started in 2013, paused in 2014, and resumed in 2023.[78]
Tonga	Economic Partnership Agreements as part of the Pacific States Interim Partnership Agreement	Informed the EU of its intention to accede to the EPA.[81]
Tuvalu	Economic Partnership Agreements as part of the Pacific States Interim Partnership Agreement	Informed the EU of its intention to accede to the EPA.[81]
Vanuatu	Economic Partnership Agreements as part of the Pacific States Interim Partnership Agreement	Informed the EU of its intention to accede to the EPA.[81]

Negotiations on hold

Country or bloc	Agreement being negotiated	Status
Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf States  Bahrain  Kuwait  Oman  Qatar  Saudi Arabia  United Arab Emirates	Free Trade Agreement	Negotiations started in 1990, suspended since 2008[78]
Central Africa  Central African Republic  Chad  Republic of Congo  Equatorial Guinea  Gabon  Democratic Republic of Congo  São Tomé and Principe	Economic Partnership Agreement	Negotiations started in 2003, paused until further notice in 2011[78]
Eastern and Southern Africa States  Ethiopia  Djibouti  Malawi  Somalia  Sudan  Zambia	Economic Partnership Agreement	Negotiations started in 2004, paused until further notice in 2011[78]
Malaysia	Free Trade Agreement	Negotiations started in 2010, paused since 2012[78]
Monaco	European Union Association Agreement	Negotiations launched in 2015, but halted in 2023[82]
Morocco	Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area	Negotiations started in 2013, on hold since 2014 at Morocco’s request[83]
Myanmar	Investment protection agreement	Negotiations launched in 2015[78]
Tunisia	Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area	Negotiations launched in 2015, on hold since 2019[84]
United States	Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership	Negotiations started in 2013, suspended since 2019[78]

Obsolete agreements

Country or bloc	Agreement	Signed	Active	Obsolete
Croatia	SAA	29 October 2001	1 March 2001	1 July 2013[85]

Competence

The European Court of Justice has held that investor-state arbitration provisions (including a dedicated tribunal planned by some free trade agreements) falls under competency shared between European Union and its member states and that for this reason, the ratification of such mixed agreements^[86] should be approved by the EU as well as by each of the union's member states.^[87] This court decision has resulted in a new architecture of external trade negotiations which will have two components:^[88]

• a free trade agreement - related exclusively to trade matters - which can be adopted at the EU level;
• an investment agreement - containing investment, arbitration and other non-trade provisions - which needs to be ratified by the member states as well.

Impact to consumers

One study found that the trade agreements that the EU implemented over the period 1993-2013 have, on average, increased the quality of imported goods by 7% and therefore "lowered quality-adjusted prices by close to 7%," without having much of an impact on the non-adjusted price.^[89]

See also

• Business and economics portal
• Lists portal

• Economic Partnership Agreements
• EU-ACP
• EUR.1 movement certificate
• Euro-Mediterranean free trade area
• European Union Association Agreement
• Everything but Arms
• Free trade agreements of the United Kingdom
• Free trade area
• Free trade areas in Europe
• List of bilateral free trade agreements
• List of free trade agreements
• List of the largest trading partners of the European Union
• Trade deal negotiation between the UK and EU (2020)
• Trade defence instrument
• United States free trade agreements

Notes

1. Excluding the EU and its member states
2. From 2021 under the provisions of the Brexit withdrawal agreement (Protocol relating to the sovereign base areas of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Cyprus)
3. Entry into force of Interim Agreement
4. Interim Agreement
5. Agreement on Trade, Development and Cooperation
6. Decision of the EC-Turkey Association Council
7. Includes Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man with regards to trade in goods and fisheries. For Northern Ireland, a more comprehensive arrangement is in place with regards to trade in goods based on the Withdrawal Agreement.