Members of a free trade area remove barriers to the flow of goods and services among themselves while each member still adopts its own policy as regards to trade with outsiders.In other words different members may have different tariff rates or quota

Members of a free trade area remove barriers to the flow of goods and services among themselves while each member still adopts its own policy as regards to trade with outsiders.In other words different members may have different tariff rates or quota restrictions.Consequently,non-member countries may take advantage of this situation and try to enter the market of the area from the member country with the lowest barrier.

自由贸易区成员扫除了成员间商品和服务自由流通的障碍，但同其他国家进行贸易活动时，各成员仍采用自己的贸易政策。换句话说，各成员的关税税率或配额限制可能不同。因此，非自由贸易区成员会利用这一点，从贸易壁垒较低的成员国进人自由贸易区市场。