Free-trade areas are regional agreements to reduce TARIFFs, quotas, and other barriers to trade among the participating nations while retaining national TRADE BARRIERS with respect to other countries. The goal in creating areas for FREE TRADE is to stimulate ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT and increase economic bargaining power. Since World War II, numerous free-trade areas have been established. The most widely known are the 130+-member WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO), the 14-member EUROPEAN UNION (with plans to expand membership in the near future), and the 3-member NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (NAFTA). Each region of the world has attempted to create regional agreements. In 1966, five Central African countries created the Customs Union of Central Africa (Union Douaniere et Economique de l’Afrique Centrale, UDEAC). The following year Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda created the East African Community (EAC). In 1974, six Frenchspeaking West African countries formed the West African Economic Community (known by its French initials CEAO). The following year the CEAO became part of the Economic Community of West African States. In 1991, 51 African nations established the Organization of African Unity (OAU). In Latin America and the Caribbean, the first free-trade area was the Central American Common Market (CACM), established in 1958. Many Latin American countries participated in the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA, 1961). Eight island nations plus Belize created the Caribbean Community (CARICOM, 1973). In 1994, 37 nations became members of the Association of Caribbean States, agreeing to long-term economic integration. The Persian Gulf states formed the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 1984 implementing trade and invest- ment rules among participating states. In South America, two free trade areas have been established: MERCOSUR (Southern Cone including Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay in 1991 and later joined by Chile and Bolivia); and ANCOM, the Andean Common Market established in 1969 by Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru. In South Asia the most prominent free trade area is ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, formed in 1967. Most regional free-trade areas have had limited success in stimulating economic development. Often they are created as a counter-balance to the political and economic power of the United States, Japan, and European nations. Many countries retain special trade agreements based on historic and colonial relationships and political-military alignment. For example, the United States has a special trade agreement with Israel, established in 1985. The United States and the European Union (EU) got into what was known as the “banana wars” over preferential access to the EU for banana producers in former European colonies and Commonwealth countries.