Legal Definitions - bilateral

Bilateral

Bilateral means two-sided. It is often used to describe agreements between two countries. For example, the United States and Australia have a Bilateral trade agreement that limits tariffs or other protectionist policies between the two nations. In addition, a contract must generally be bilateral to be enforceable under the doctrine of consideration. Alternatives to bilateral include unilateral and multilateral.

• The United States and Canada have a Bilateral agreement to share intelligence information.
• Japan and South Korea have a Bilateral trade agreement that reduces tariffs on certain goods.

These examples illustrate how bilateral agreements involve two parties coming to an agreement on a specific issue. In the case of the United States and Canada, they have agreed to share intelligence information, while Japan and South Korea have agreed to reduce tariffs on certain goods. Both agreements involve two countries working together to achieve a common goal.