U.S. Soy Exports Could Crush it in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

The Southeast Asian market has largely eluded U.S. soy products due to the presence of Argentina and Brazil in the region, but that could change with a free trade agreement (FTA) between the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a group of Southeast Asian countries that works to benefit each of its members through community and free trade.1 The ten member countries have few or no tariffs on trade among themselves and make up what is referred to as the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). ASEAN members can also negotiate with outside countries to establish individual FTAs, such as the 2004 FTA between the United States and Singapore that eliminated tariffs on all U.S. exports to Singapore (USTR, 2003).