Regionalisation of Trade and Regionalism in Trade Policy – Patterns, Strategies and Impact

Against the backdrop of the stalled Doha Round the emphasis in the trade policies of nations and country groupings is widely expected to shift further away from multilateral trade negotiations and towards the conclusion of preferential trade agreements (PTAs). This article sketches the network of international trade flows and shows how it has increasingly been matched by a worldwide web of PTAs, the nature of which has changed over time. PTAs are discussed in their regional context and assessed with a view to their economic impact and their implications for the multilateral trading system.

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