(FORTUNE Magazine) – Who needs politicians to create world trade agreements? North American beermakers are practically drafting a trade treaty of their own, making deals north, south, and elsewhere as globalization of the brewing industry comes to a head. Anheuser-Busch recently bought 18% of Grupo Modelo, the Mexican producer of Corona beer. Bud's other new allies are China's Tsingtao Brewery Co., in which it bought a 5% stake, and Kirin Brewery, a partner in Budweiser Japan, which starts serving Bud in September. Anheuser also reached an agreement with Italy's SpA Birra Peroni Industriale in April to begin distribution of its beer there. Meanwhile, Miller Brewing secured a piece of the Great White North in April, acquiring 20% of Molson Breweries Canada and all of Molson USA, which distributes the product here. Molson itself is a joint venture between Molson's parent and Foster's Brewing Group of Australia. South of the border, Miller's parent, Philip Morris, bought 7.9% of Mexico's Femsa SA, which makes the Dos Equis brand and is the country's leading Coke bottler. Adolph Coors Co. has gone even farther south, having established a joint venture with New Zealand's Lion Nathan, maker of Castlemaine XXXX, another brew that it hopes will ape Foster's success. Coors is also building a brewery with Jinro in Korea that starts up next year.

When the foam settles, there will be no more American beers, at least from a marketing standpoint. Instead we'll quaff popularly priced North American brews: Molson, Budweiser, Miller, Coors, Corona, Dos Equis, and perhaps imports Foster's and Castlemaine. ''This new hierarchy of brands is taking away the mystique of the traditional imports,'' says Bill Olson, CEO of Guinness Brewing North America. Olson isn't crying in his beer, though. True- brew types are gravitating to high-end imports such as Guinness and Bass Ale, as well as domestic microbrews. Why are all these brewers so interested in global expansion? Simple: Sales were flat in the U.S. last year, and will be flat this year and for the foreseeable future. The market in the rest of the world is 3 1/2 times the size of the U.S., and growing. Can American companies sell their lighter, fizzier beer in Europe? Better than you might think. Anheuser-Busch increased international sales 14% to 3.3 million barrels last year, about 4% of the brewer's total volume. No small beer, that.