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Regional Policy
A nationally or internationally oriented policy to foster national or intraregional development or regional international trade. In the context of national development, it could be seen as a subsidy to enhance regional development, for which retaliatory action (countervailing or actionable duty under the World Trade Organization rules) should not be taken. The subsidy is generally reflective of the need to expand, an activity to which insufficient resources have been allocated (market failure).
Nations of a geographic region can also come together to have a common trading or regional trading policy with the rest of the world. This is usually the case with customs unions, common markets, and economic unions. Unlike a free-trade area, members of customs unions, common markets, and economic unions adopt a common regional ...