Abstract

Koichi Yamaura

The purposes of this paper are to assess U.S. preferential trade agreements (PTAs) effects especially to 1)
analyze the impact of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in U.S. green tea trade, and 2) analyze the
impact of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program for green tea trade to U.S. The author propose
to apply the gravity equation for U.S. green tea imports by focusing PTAs effects. The period from 1989 to 2010
was examined. The gravity equation estimates have revealed that NAFTA has a positive effect on the trade
flows. The GSP has a positive impact when model includes zero trade values.