A short description about EU, USMCA, and BRICS - along with the mention of other trade blocs.

1. z
International Business Management
3 Major Trade
Blocs of the
World
By
M.Harikrishnan

2. z
Trade Bloc - Meaning
 A trading bloc is a formal agreement between two or more
regional countries that remove trade barriers between the
countries in the agreement.
 The idea is that member countries freely trade with each other,
but establish barriers to trade with non-members, which has had
a significant impact on the pattern of global trade.

3. Various Trade Blocs around the world

4. z
EUROPEAN UNION ( EU )
 The EU is the world’s largest trading bloc consisting 27 member states that are
located primarily in Europe.
 The 27 EU member states are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland,
Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
 As a political entity, the European Union is represented in the World Trade
Organization (WTO). 19 member states have joined a monetary union known as the
Eurozone, which uses the Euro (€ ) as a single currency.
 The euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most
traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. The European Central
Bank (ECB) is the central bank for the eurozone, and thus controls monetary policy in
that area with an agenda to maintain price stability.

5. z
List of the 10 largest trading partners of the
European Union
 With United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union, United Kingdom
enters the top ten partners of the EU-27.
 The 10 largest trading partners of the European Union with their total trade
(sum of imports and exports) in millions of euro for calendar year 2020 are as
follows.
 In the table, a positive trade balance means that the EU exports more than it
imports from the given country. These figures do not include foreign direct
investment or trade in services, but only trade in goods.

6. z
EU-27 trade after Brexit (2020 in billion euros)
Rank Country Exports Imports Total trade
Trade
Balance
1 China 202.5 383.5 586 −181
2 USA 353 202 555 150.9
3 UK 277.5 167.2 444.7 110.3
4 Switzerland 142.4 108.6 251 33.8
5 Russia 79 95.2 174.2 −16.2
6 Turkey 69.9 62.6 132.5 7.3
7 Japan 54.5 54.9 109.4 −0.4
8 Norway 48.6 42.3 90.9 6.3
9 South Korea 45.3 44.1 89.4 1.2
10 India 32.2 33.1 65.3 −0.9
- According to the European Commission Directorate -
General for Trade.

7. z
The EU and India - an analysis in 2020
 The EU is India's third largest trading partner, accounting for €62,8 billion worth of trade
in goods in 2020 or 11.1% of total Indian trade, after China (12%) and the US (11.7%).
 The EU is the second-largest destination for Indian exports ( 14% of the total) after the
USA.
 India is the EU’s 10th largest trading partner, accounting for 1.8 % of EU total trade in
goods in 2020 , well behind China (16.1),the USA (15.2%), and the UK (12.2 %).
 Trade in goods between the EU and India increased by 72% in the last decade.
 Trade in services between the EU and India reached €32.7 billion in 2020.
 The EU's share in foreign investment inflows to India doubled from 8% to 18% in the
last decade.
 EU foreign direct investment stocks in India amounted to €75.8 billion in 2019, which is
significant but way below EU foreign investment stocks in China (€198.7 billion) or Brazil
(€318.9 billion).
 Approximately 6,000 European companies are present in India, providing directly 1.7
million jobs and indirectly 5 million jobs in a broad range of sectors.

8. z
North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) / United States - Mexico - Canada
Agreement (USMCA)
 The Agreement between the United States of America, the United Mexican States, and
Canada, commonly known as the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement
(USMCA) in the United States and the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement
(CUSMA) in Canada, is a free trade agreement between Canada, Mexico, and the
United States.
 It replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) implemented in 1994,
and is sometimes characterized as "NAFTA 2.0", or "New NAFTA“, since it largely
maintains or updates many provisions from its predecessor.
 The USMCA came into effect on July 1, 2020, replacing the NAFTA.

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Key changes in USMCA that replaces the
former, NAFTA
 Auto manufacturing Boost: The USMCA requires 75% of a vehicle's parts to be made in one of the
three countries - up from the current 62.5% rule - in order to remain free from tariffs when moving
between the three signatory countries.
 Labor laws strengthened: Manufacturing workers have long blamed NAFTA for sending jobs to
Mexico, where wages are lower. This new deal provides for an interagency committee that will monitor
Mexico's labor reform implementation and compliance with labor obligations & allowing the formation
of "rapid response" panels to review whether specific facilities are violating workers' rights and to
levy duties or penalties on products made at those facilities.
 Dairy farmers get more market access: The USMCA will keep agricultural products tariffs at zero
traded among the three countries, while further opening up the Canadian market to US dairy, poultry
and eggs. In return, the United States will allow more Canadian dairy, peanuts and peanut products,
as well as a limited amount of sugar, to cross the border.
 Updating NAFTA for the digital era: The USMCA includes sweeping new benefits for the technology
sector, in a chapter on digital trade that wasn't a part of the original NAFTA. The new provisions aren't
expected to directly create new jobs, but could provide a boost to US businesses in other ways. Ex:
US companies in Canada and Mexico need not store their data on in-country servers.

10. z
USMCA’s Imports and Exports - from and
to India (Individually)
51.19
3.71
0.429
27.39
2.75 3.05
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
US Canada Mexico
IN
US
$
BILLIONS
USMCA MEMBER COUNTRIES
Imports from India ( in US $ Billion) Exports to India ( in US $ Billion)

11. z
BRICS (Brazil Russia India China
South Africa)
 The BRICS members are known for their significant influence on regional affairs.
 Since 2009, the governments of the BRICS states have met annually at formal
summits.
 Russia hosted the most recent 12th BRICS summit on 17 November 2020 virtually
due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Originally the first four were grouped as "BRIC" (or "the BRICs") before the induction
of South Africa in 2010.
 The BRICS have now formed a BRICS Bank, a Contingent Reserve Arrangement
and even a Think Tank Council.

12. z
Intra BRICS Trade & World Statistics - 2017
Country World Brazil China India Russia
South
Africa
Intra
BRICS
%
Share
of its
Global
Trade
Brazil 368.49 74.81 5.38 7.60 2.00 89.79 24.37%
China 4107.16 87.81 84.22 84.39 39.20 295.61 7.20%
India 587.36 7.97 84.42 10.12 10.96 113.47 19.32%
Russia 738.42 5.23 85.90 8.32 0.83 100.28 13.58%
South
Africa
171.30 1.96 23.89 0.75 8.05 34.65 20.23%
Total 5972.73 633.81 10.61%

13. z
India’s Role in BRICS
 India, since the inception of BRICS has played an important and active role. It attaches
high importance to the BRICS forum for promoting global economic growth, peace and
stability.
 Co-operation on the economic front is one of the focus areas of India's policy towards
BRICS. India sees BRICS as a platform to build multilateral relations with Latin American,
African and Asian countries. India has over the years, developed closed strategic
relationship with the other member countries.
 India has also tried to use BRIC as a forum to resolve the age-old mistrust and
complicated relationship with China.
 India has also played an important role in the setting up of New Development Bank. Also
for India, co-operation with the BRICS is very important in terms of addressing its food
and energy security issues, and combating terrorism.
 With most of its member countries registering slowing of their economies, India has
emerged as the only bright light in the BRICS thanks to its recent policy reforms. Despite
global economic slowdown, Indian rupee has become the best performing currency
among BRICS countries.

14. Other Major Trade Blocs

16. z
References
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union#Politics
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_trading_partners_of_the_European_Union
 https://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/countries/india/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States%E2%80%93Mexico%E2%80%93Canada_Agreement
 https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/10/politics/nafta-us-mexico-canada-trade-deal-differences/index.html
 https://www.statista.com/statistics/186525/volume-of-us-exports-of-trade-goods-to-india-since-1985/ &
https://www.statista.com/statistics/187683/volume-of-us-imports-of-trade-goods-from-india-since-1985/
 https://tradingeconomics.com/canada/imports/india#:~:text=Canada%20imports%20from%20India%20was,updated%20o
n%20May%20of%202021 &
https://tradingeconomics.com/canada/exports/india#:~:text=Canada%20exports%20to%20India%20was,updated%20on%
20May%20of%202021
 https://tradingeconomics.com/india/exports/mexico & https://tradingeconomics.com/mexico/imports-from-india
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRICS
 https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1594938
 https://www.civilserviceindia.com/subject/Essay/list-bricks-achievements-and-failures2.html