Pakistan has not concluded any Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the past five years. Even the revision of FTA with China remained inconclusive since the agreement was largely in favor of China and was causing a huge trade imbalance. Nine rounds of negotiation were held between Pakistan and Thailand but due to differences on a few subjects the agreement could not be signed. Pakistan felt that allowing Thailand access to its auto sector would pose challenges and put the FTA at odds with the new auto policy which aims at enhancing the domestic production. Presently, the bilateral trade is in favor of Thailand. The FTA, if implemented, is expected to lessen the trade deficit while doubling bilateral trade.

Similarly another major FTA was to be signed with Turkey but that too remained inconclusive for various reasons. Pakistan explored the possibility of a free trade agreement with South Korea but no serious efforts were made to conclude the FTA.

Pakistan has failed to benefit from any of the six bilateral trade agreements over the past decade with the country struggling to get tariff incentives from its trading partners. The country has so far signed free and preferential trade agreements with six countries, including China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Iran, Mauritius and Indonesia.