Political feasibility and empirical assessments of a Pacific free trade area

While much has been written about the significance of expanded intraregional trade flows in East Asia and the Pacific Basin, considerably less attention has been paid to the political feasibility and the economic benefits and costs of such. Is an East Asian free trade area (EAFTA) agreement politically feasible? What about a Pacific free trade area (PAFTA)? How likely is it that the governments of the various countries of the region can successfully negotiate an agreement establishing a free trade area? Which countries would stand to benefit economically and which will lose in the event that trade barriers are removed in conjunction with the creation of one or the other of the proposed free trade agreements? What about the effects of possible retaliation by the United States against EAFTA member countries? In this paper, we seek to provide answers to these and other related questions