what is bilateral trade 
bilateral trade is the exchange of goods between two nations promoting trade and investment when engaged in bilateral trade participating countries may agree to reduce or eliminate tariffs import quotas export restraints and other trade barriers to encourage trade and investment in the united states the office of bilateral trade affairs minimizes trade deficits by negotiating free trade agreements with new countries supporting and improving existing trade agreements promoting economic development abroad and other actions understanding bilateral tradebilateral trade agreements aim to expand access between two countries markets and increase their economic growth standardized business operations also prevent one country from stealing another s innovative products dumping goods at a small cost or using unfair subsidies bilateral trade agreements standardize regulations labor standards and environmental protections the united states has signed bilateral trade agreements with 20 countries some of which include israel jordan australia chile singapore bahrain morocco oman peru panama and colombia 1the dominican republic central america ftr cafta dr is a free trade agreement signed between the united states and smaller economies of central america as well as the dominican republic 1 the central american countries are el salvador guatemala costa rica nicaragua and honduras nafta replaced the bilateral agreements with canada and mexico in 1994 the u s renegotiated nafta under the united states mexico canada agreement which went into effect in 2020 2advantages and disadvantages of bilateral tradecompared to multilateral trade agreements bilateral trade agreements are negotiated more easily because only two nations are party to the agreement bilateral trade agreements initiate and reap trade benefits faster than multilateral agreements 