Multilateral, regional, bilateral: Which agreement is best?

One of the first acts of Tony Abbott’s government was to declare it intended to “embrace free trade” in its first term in office. Calling the trade minister Australia’s “ambassador for jobs”, the Coalition has staked its economic and foreign policy credibility on the promise to finalise a series of free trade deals that made limited progress under former Labor governments. But Australia already has a lot of trade on its plate. It’s a participant in the ongoing Doha round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks, and a party to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations in Asia. It has also open bilateral trade negotiations with five of its most important economic partners – China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, and India