Consider the following countries :
- 1.Australia
- 2.Canada
- 3.China
- 4.India
- 5.Japan
- 6.USA
Which of the above are among the ‘free-trade partners’ of ASEAN ?
Show answer
Answer: C. ASEAN has free trade agreements with China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand (the 'ASEAN+6'). Of the listed countries, Australia, China, India and Japan are partners; Canada and the USA are not. So 1, 3, 4 and 5.
Watch for: The USA is a major ASEAN dialogue partner, so students assume it has an FTA too.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Wrong because Canada is not an ASEAN FTA partner.
- B. Wrong because the USA is not an ASEAN FTA partner.
- D. Wrong because Canada and the USA are not ASEAN FTA partners.
Source to check: ASEAN Secretariat (asean.org), 'ASEAN Free Trade Agreements'; Ministry of Commerce, ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (2009)
Answer from the official UPSC key. Written and fact-checked by AI against the official key. Spotted a mistake? Report it.