MEGA-REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AS A TOOL OF GLOBAL COMPETITION

Mega‐regional trade Agreements: Costly distractions for developing countries?

Regional Trade Agreements: a comparison

The negotiation and construction of a Regional Trade Agreement (RTA) bears the elements of its future success. The agreement identifies the relative strength of the countries involved and the long-term internal functioning of the agreement. A comparison between the NAFTA and Mercosur RTAs highlights this concept. NAFTA appears to indicate the clear range of possibilities to the US, Canada and M...

An Evaluation of Trade Capacity Building Programs Regional Trade Agreements : A Tool for Development ?

In the past, regional trade arrangements (RTAs) among developing countries have not lived up to the hopes of proponents as vehicles for promoting efficient industrialization. Newer approaches, notably including low tariffs for countries outside the RTA, have more promise. RTAs with developed countries also are more likely to produce favorable results. Therefore, USAID should approach supporting...

Regional Trade Agreements: Effects on Trade

positive or negative effects on trade depending on their design and implementation. Analysis in this chapter confirms that gains from a preferential trade agreement cannot be taken for granted; moreover, even in agreements with positive impacts on average incomes, not all members are assured of increases. The interesting policy question then is not whether RTAs are categorically good or bad, bu...

Consolidation and Harmonization of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs): A Path Toward Global Free Trade

Some economists worry about the ‘spaghetti bowl phenomenon’ expected from proliferating regional trade agreements (RTAs). In particular, the complicated web of hub-and-spoke type of overlapping free trade agreements (FTAs) can result in high costs for verifying rules of origin (RoO) and trade diversion or suppression effects. This explains why almost half of the RTAs notified to the General Agr...