This paper explores whether rules of origin (ROOs) of free-trade agreements (FTAs) are on a path to convergence or divergence. It identifies three major ROOs templates associated with the United States (US), the European Union (EU), and the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The study reveals a growing divergence in the general provisions of these templates, with the EU’s template growing more flexible through the introduction of lenient tolerance rules in its FTAs, and the North American template becoming more restrictive, as exemplified by the Net Cost (NC) method and the core-parts rule for automotive products in the ROOs of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Furthermore, the study reveals that the ROOs of the cross-template FTAs that include parties associated with distinct templates adopt the template of the larger economic participant. These cross-template FTAs also introduce novel variations in their general provisions such as the focused-value (FV) method of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The alignment of cross-template FTAs with the major ROOs templates and the introduction of novel variations in cross-template FTAs pose challenges to the global harmonization of FTA ROOs.