美國自由貿易協定體制之發展最早可以溯源到美國與以色列的自由貿易協定。儘管如此，美國大規模涉入建立自由貿易協定體制的努力卻是在二○○三年世界貿易組織部長會議失利之後。當然我們可以理解是因為建立多邊體制方面出現了困境，但是就之後的發展來看似乎不足以解釋美國簽署自由貿易協定的行為。美國的動機在哪裡？ 有關這部分，可以藉助於經濟整合理論。這方面的理論概括可分為三大類型：地緣政治學派；政治經濟學派；國內政治學派。地緣政治論點主張整合是參與國家為了彼此的安全考量，或是考量到集團外國家所帶來的安全問題；政治經濟學派認為整合的主要動機是廠商利益的極大化；「國內政治」學派主張國際經濟整合是為了完成國內的政治目標。根據前述的理論，來分析美國簽署自由貿易協定，以求瞭解美國的動機。 就美國簽署自由貿易協定的歷史趨勢來看，主要發展的軸線有兩條。一條是與西半球國家建立自由貿易區的努力，包括已簽署批准的北美自由貿易區及中美洲—多明尼加自由貿易協定（哥斯大黎加除外）以及正在談判中的美洲自由貿易區。另外一條軸線是中東地區的自由貿易區，包括以色列、約旦、阿曼、巴林、摩洛哥等國。在中東地區美國正在阿拉伯聯合大公國進行自由貿易協定的談判，且與更多中東國家完成談判自由貿易協定的先期作業——簽署貿易投資架構協定（如科威特、卡達、葉門等）。 分析的結果發展，在短期內華府之自由貿易協定策略是基於地緣政治的考量，特別是如何減少恐怖主義的威脅。就長程目標而言，美國的策略是支持國內政治和達成其目標，以及透過整合降低交易成本，將其獲利極大化。

U.S. President Bush emerged from the fourth Summit of the Americas with empty hand in 2005. During his attending the Summit, President Bush stressed the important of free trade agreement regime by illustrating two important things: looking forward to implementing the free trade agreement with Central America and Dominican Republic and continuing to pursue free trade agreement with Andean nations. To his disappointment, five nations (including Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela) vehemently opposed to reach an agreement on the resumption of regional free trade agreement talks at this stage. Does this setback mean something for the future U.S. policy toward free trade regime? After the collapse of Cancun ministerial meeting in September 2003, many policy-makers were very skeptical about the future operation of World Trade Organization (WTO). Since then, we have observed major nations taking swift adjustment about their trade strategy and focusing on signing regional trade agreements (RTAs) and free trade agreements (FTAs) as alternatives. For the United States, immediate after the Cancun meeting, Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Zoellick issued a statement, expressing that he would move ahead on free trade agreements with individual nations or regions. We can understand that free trade agreement is one of the three core pillars of U.S. international trade policy and to guarantee her a sound and favorable trade environment. Furthermore, the purpose of free trade agreement is to strengthen liberal international trade regime and benefit U.S. national interests. Nevertheless, under current Bush administration, are there other factors contributing her focus on free trade agreement? Under these circumstances, this research will focus on analyzing the prime motivations and the development of the United States free trade agreement with her trade partners.