Regional Trade Agreements in the GATT/WTO:Artical XXIV and the Internal Trade Requirement

Regional Trade Agreements in the GATT/WTO:Artical XXIV and the Internal Trade Requirement PDF Author: James Mathis
Publisher: T.M.C. Asser Press
ISBN: 9789067041393
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
The economic theory of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs), or discriminatory trade liberalization for and among a subset ofnations, was first analyzed with fun damental and startling insight by Jacob Viner (1950). He destroyed the intuition that any move towards free trade was welfare-enhancing, for the country itself or for the world, or for both. He introduced us memorably to the notion of trade di verting -- and here, he meant not diversion in the old and approving sense of en tertainment but in the modern and castigating sense ofdistorting - Free Trade Ar eas (FTAs) and Customs Unions (CUs). In other words, in the economists'jargon, discriminatory approaches to freeing trade were not monotonically welfare-im proving. The legal scholars of GATT and trade law, chiefly the giants Robert Hudec, John Jackson and Kenneth Dam in the United States, were quick to follow suit. Their classic writings on Article XXIV ofthe GATT,which provides an exception to the MFN obligation for contracting parties provided they go all the way and cre ate FTAs and CUs which are supposed to reduce internal trade barriers fully rath er than settle for a lesser preferential arrangement, are still a pleasure to read. They are in the best tradition of a creative interaction between the economic and the le gal disciplines. Indeed, today, as my own work with Robert Hudec, resulting in a major two-volume publication by MIT Press underlines, that interaction has be come yet more profound.

Regional Trade Agreements in the GATT/WTO:Artical XXIV and the Internal Trade Requirement

Regional Trade Agreements in the GATT/WTO:Artical XXIV and the Internal Trade Requirement PDF Author: James Mathis
Publisher: T.M.C. Asser Press
ISBN: 9789067041393
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Get Book Here

Book Description
The economic theory of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs), or discriminatory trade liberalization for and among a subset ofnations, was first analyzed with fun damental and startling insight by Jacob Viner (1950). He destroyed the intuition that any move towards free trade was welfare-enhancing, for the country itself or for the world, or for both. He introduced us memorably to the notion of trade di verting -- and here, he meant not diversion in the old and approving sense of en tertainment but in the modern and castigating sense ofdistorting - Free Trade Ar eas (FTAs) and Customs Unions (CUs). In other words, in the economists'jargon, discriminatory approaches to freeing trade were not monotonically welfare-im proving. The legal scholars of GATT and trade law, chiefly the giants Robert Hudec, John Jackson and Kenneth Dam in the United States, were quick to follow suit. Their classic writings on Article XXIV ofthe GATT,which provides an exception to the MFN obligation for contracting parties provided they go all the way and cre ate FTAs and CUs which are supposed to reduce internal trade barriers fully rath er than settle for a lesser preferential arrangement, are still a pleasure to read. They are in the best tradition of a creative interaction between the economic and the le gal disciplines. Indeed, today, as my own work with Robert Hudec, resulting in a major two-volume publication by MIT Press underlines, that interaction has be come yet more profound.

Mega-regionalism and Great Power Geo-economic Competition

Mega-regionalism and Great Power Geo-economic Competition PDF Author: Xianbai Ji
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000454975
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
The regional trade governance architecture is in flux. The latest wave of regionalism in the form of mega-regional trade partnerships between countries with major shares of the world economy occurred in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09. The most systematically important mega-FTAs included the Trans-Pacific Partnership led by the United States (US), the China-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the European Union (EU) and the US. Drawing on policy diffusion and competitive regionalism literatures, Xianbai Ji develops an innovative model of competitive spill-over to uncover the historical and contemporary sources of mega-regionalism resulting from a temporal clustering of mega-FTA initiatives from great powers. In the book, mega-FTA is conceptualised as an instrument of geo-economic competition between the US, China, and the EU. Each aspired to leverage its mega-FTA to gain an edge over its rivals in economic, geopolitical, and legal terms. Through a mix-method research strategy involving computable general equilibrium modelling, game theory, desk research, and perception survey, Ji generates an impressive chorus of quantitative, qualitative, and perceptual data demonstrating that the rise of mega-regionalism was driven by the multidimensional competition between the US, China, and the EU over international economic benefits, geopolitical influence, and the authority to write rules governing emerging trade issues. This book will attract academics, think tankers, practitioners, and postgraduate students interested in regionalism, international trade, international political economy, applied trade policy analysis, great power competition, geo-economics, and international relations.