Regional economic integration refers to agreements between countries in a geographic region to reduce tariff and nontariff barriers to the free flow of goods, services, and factors of production between each other.
Despite the rapid spread of regional trade agreements designed to promote free trade, there are those who fear that the world is moving toward a situation in which a number of regional trade blocks compete against each other. In this scenario of the future, free trade will exist within each bloc, but each bloc will protect its market from outside competition with high tariffs.