Preferential trade agreements have been grown in Asia Pacific since 1998, hence after this region faced financial crisis. The growing of those trade areas is called New Asian Economic Regionalism. This paper shows this new wage of regional economic integration, focusing the trade, whose main features are: include countries that were not previously member of any preferential trade area; economies are members of more than one regional trade agreements; some of new agreements cross world's geographic regions and many of the new agreements are bilateral. The paper gives economic integration definition and classification and the benefits and the limits that preferential trade agreements lead to economies. It is analyzed the areas of economic integration have existed yet and those in negotiation process in Asia Pacific region. Causes of the New Asian Economic Regionalism are analyzed: financial crisis of Asia, regional organisms and multilateral trade system lost of credibility, increasing preferential trade in other regions of the world and economic and political competition between countries of Asia. Conclusion is that if really there is integration between the economies, there will be a new cycle of Asian economic growth, mainly in East and Southeast Asia, continuing the economic model led by exports.
Regionalism; Asia; Trade; Trade Agreements
