Introduction World trade has been an ever evolving phenomenon and the agreements made to govern this have also been evolving. In order to stabilise and centralise trade agreements, multilateral trading system came into being and people thought that this is an ultimate solution to facilitate trade among different nations and take care of any issues emerging thereby. As the time passed by, many countries started to feel the need to have a close agreement within a concentrated setting and as a result regional trade agreement (RTA) and preferential trade agreements (PTA). With mushrooming number of RTAs and PTAs, it became essential to assess the extent to which these agreements have been capable of changing economic scenario around the world. The proliferation of these agreements, the experts have started to debate whether these agreements are taking over the multilateral trading systems, especially of WTO. A number of studies have been carried out in this direction as well in order to find out the extent to which these agreements have positive or negative effect on the economic activities in the countries where these agreements have been preferred over multilateral trading system (Lloyd, 2002). The evolutions of these agreements have accelerated in the recent past and an average WTO member has agreement with more than 15 countries (Schaefer, 2007). The proliferation mainly aims at making trade relations more cohesive and more rewarding. Trade liberalisations may have paced up the economic activities; it has adverse effect on multilateral trading system. The trend towards regionalism can hamper the very aim of the multilateral trading system in the long-run. The very idea behind introducing such a system was to facilitate economic d... ... middle of paper ... ... L. (2005),Eager to ink, but ready to act? RTA proliferation and international cooperation on competition policy. Competition provisions in regional trade agreements: how to assure development gains, 1. 10. Oduor, M. (2005),Resolving Trade Disputes in Africa: Choosing Between Multilateralism and Regionalism: The Case of COMESA and the WTO. Tul. J. Int'l & Comp. L., 13, 177. 11. Lee, Y. S. (2011), Reconciling RTAs with the WTO multilateral trading system: Case for a New Sunset Requirement on RTAs and Development Facilitation. Journal of World Trade, 45(3), 629-651. 12. Leal-Arcas, R. (2010), Proliferation of Regional Trade Agreements: Complementing or Supplanting Multilateralism. Chi. J. Int'l L., 11, 597. 13. Sampson, G. P., & Woolcock, S. (Eds.). (2003),Regionalism, multilateralism, and economic integration: the recent experience. United Nations University Press.
Trade is the most common form of transferring ownership of a product. The concepts are very simple, I give you something (a good or service) and you give me something (a good or service) in return, everyone is happy. However, trade is not limited to two individuals. There are trades that happen outside national borders and we refer to that as international trading. Before a country does international trading, they do research to understand the opportunity costs and marginal costs of their production versus another countries production. Doing this we can increase profit, decrease costs and improve overall trade efficiency. Currently, there are negotiations going on between 11 countries about making a trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific
Bentley, J., & Ziegler, H. (2008). Trade and encounters a global perspective on the past. (4th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 182-401). New York: McGraw-Hill.
The resulting emergency meetings by the WTO raised concerns about whether the WTO can be an effective moderator in such disputes if nations decide to do things unilaterally. In other words, if larger, powerful nations can impose their will whenever they wish, what would be the fate of the poorer or less powerful nations? Even at the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Seattle, Caribbean nations would have likely lost out and gained little from the world trade liberalization agenda of the WTO had the huge public not been able to derail that
In the 21st century, the European Union has realized the importance of changes and advancements in their trade policies, where they need to become more advance and faster in economic policies to compete with rest of the world and stay ahead of them, due to which, they have introduced Free Trade Agreements (FTA’s) especially with emerging markets such as Asia to promote more bilateral trade and business. The stages in regional trade agreement are as follows:
Lipsey, Richard G.. "Will there be a Canadian-American Free Trade Association? ." The World Economy 9 (2008): 218-238.
While free trade has certainly changed with advances in technology and the ability to create external economies, the concept seems to be the most benign way for countries to trade with one another. Factoring in that imperfect competition and increasing returns challenge the concept of comparative advantage in modern international trade markets, the resulting introduction of government policies to regulate trade seems to result in increased tensions between countries as individual nations seek to gain advantages at the cost of others. While classical trade optimism may be somewhat naïve, the alternatives are risky and potentially harmful.
In today's globalized economies, virtually every country in the world belongs to some form of regional integrated trade organization whether by direct membership, bilateral or multilateral agreement. Regional integration is a process by which sovereign states in a particular region enter into an agreement to promote economic growth through the reduction of barriers to trade restrictions and safeguard common interests such as the environment. The removal of trade barriers results in a free trade zone thus creating a single market. Sovereign nations have many differences, some may be more economically sound and others may have a greater labor force or better technology. In the end, all regional nations must find a method to work together for the common good of all parties. The development of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was to solidify the nations occupying the North American continent, Canada, the United States (U.S.) and Mexico. Many proponents question the success of NAFTA for these nations. This essay will examine the advantages and disadvantages of regional integration and the regional economic development of these nations as members of NAFTA.
The political force moved away from the painstakingly and time-consuming technique of multilateral tariff negotiations to smaller regional and bilateral provisions - the Regional Trade Agreement. In these arrangements; members accord preferential treatment , basically agreeing to liberalize the exchange of goods and services amongst each another giving regard to certain trade barriers. RTA is not the first-hand way of trade liberalization though. Initially, when multilateral trade discussions used to happen, two-sided and multiparty FTA”s filled the vacuum. There were restrictions from stringent and premeditated trade arrangements earlier, thus a lot of states are now moving towards freer trade for their own benefits.
Gilpin, Robert. Global Political Economy: Understanding the International Economic Order. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. Print.
Firstly, what should be noted here is that international trade has been providing different benefits for firms as they may expand in different new markets and raise productivity by adopting different approaches. Given that nowadays marketplace is more dynamic and characterized by an interdependent economy, the volume of international trade has grown substantially in recent years, reducing the barriers to international trade. However, after experiencing the economic crisis that took its toll in 2008 many countries adopted a different approach in terms of trade barriers by introducing higher tariffs in order to protect domestic firms from foreign competition (Hill). Secondly, in order to better understand the implications of the political arguments for trade it is essential to highlight the main instruments of trade policy (See appendix 1).
After the failed International Trade Organization, Rodrik discusses the Bretton Woods Agreement, the transition from the General Agreement on Tariffs and T...
Tussie, D., & Aggio, C. (n.d.). Economic and social impacts of trade liberalization. Retrieved from http://www.unctad.info/upload/TAB/docs/TechCooperation/fullreport-version14nov-p106-119.pdf
...tries. These ideas were discussed in lecture on February 16th, 2011, as well as explored in Manfred B. Steger's, Globalization: A Very Short Introduction, and I.B. Logan and Kidane Mengisteab's article, "IMF – World Bank Adjustment and Structural Transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa." Instead of globalization as a positive system for SSA, it did the opposite, and made the region stagnant in economic terms. It was about expanding relationships among countries, but adjustments were creating barriers that prevented SSA from economic communications with other countries. Therefore, it contributed to colonialism after World War II; colonial powers were able to indirectly control what SSA could do, and whom they were able to contact. The World Bank as a financial institution affected SSA's economic industry, and was partly responsible for the control colonial powers had.
International trading has had its delays and road blocks, which has created a number of problems for countries around the world. Countries, fighting with one another to get the better deal, create tariffs and taxes to maximize their profit. This fighting leads to bad relationships with competing countries, and the little producing countries get the short end of this stick. Regulations and organizations have been established to help everyone get the best deal, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), but not everyone wants help, especially from an organization that seems to help only the big countries and those they want to trade with. This paper will be discussing international trading with emphasis on national sovereignty, the World Trade Organization, and how the WTO impacts trading countries.
Regional economic integration enhances political cooperation. Several group of nation can have significantly greater political influence than each nation would have by individually. This integration is an essential strategy to address the effects or issues of conflicts and political instability that may affect the region. Improved political cooperation due to regional economic integration is also useful tool to handle the social and economic challenges associated with globalization. Countries which are link together will be more dependent on each other that will reduce the likelihood of violent conflict between each nation. This integration will also give countries greater political clout when dealing