美国自由贸易区的实践特点透析及借鉴

The development practice of Free Trade Zones in the USA and its enlightenment for China

自由贸易区是以高水平开放实现外部经济集聚优势的重要制度空间。作为我国全面深化改革和对外开放的战略举措,自由贸易试验区建设率先在上海、广东、天津和福建展开试点。本文以自由贸易区的概念内涵界定、核心区位因素分析为基础,重点从区位类型、产业选择和管理模式等方面,透析美国自由贸易区的发展实践及其有益借鉴。本文认为,美国自由贸易区发展特点包括:涵盖临空、临港和陆路枢纽等区位类型,呈现数量众多、分布广泛和产业多元的总体特征,实施主-辅区并行运营、双层管理机构及矩阵联络制的管理模式。文章最后提出了创新贸易经济的治理体系、推动内外贸易的融合联动、加快制造业的转型升级和提升法律监管的保障力度等有益借鉴。

Free Trade Zones（FTZ）are economically institutional space. They can trigger the agglomeration-based advantages of external economy with the highest level of economic openness. Generally,the FTZ program has become vital to economic policy goals of boosting exports and imports, attracting foreign investment, and creating well-paying and sustainable private jobs. As an important national strategy for entirely promoting the reform and open process in China, there have been major pilot projects in Shanghai, Guangdong,Tianjin, Fujian as the experimental free trade zones. The study is aiming to enlighten our existing practice of free trade zones by using experience of America over the last decades. Firstly,the paper reviews the relative concepts and nature of free trade zones and studies three hard-core factors of location decision. Then it analyses characteristics of the free trade zones development in America, focusing on their location categories, industrial choices and regulatory modes. The three main findings include： 1 strategic location categories covering airports, harbors and hubs of land-transport;2an effective regulatory mode consisting of general purpose zones and subzones,two-level administrative institution and matrix connection system; 3 basic features manifesting large numbers, widely distribution, and various industries. Based on the above, it argues that Chinese FTZs＇ future development should focus on reforming their governance system, integrating the exports and imports, building flexible operation mechanism and upgrading the level of legal protection.