Preferential Trading Arrangement

Draws on both theory and evaluations of several major Preferential trading arrangements (PTAs) to discuss the constraints to achieving liberalisation in PTAs and key problems facing negotiators trying to achieve the best outcomes within given political economy constraints, such as choice of rules of origin and dispute settlement procedures.

"Essays in this volume were presented originally at a conference organized jointly by the American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C., and the Center for International Economics at the University of Maryland at College Park on June 12-13, 1996"--Pref. Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Handbook offers an introduction to the key elements of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs), addressing the practical economic and legal aspects of the regulatory policies in PTAs.

This insightful volume is a careful selection of the major contributions to the controversy as to whether regional trade agreements harm the multilateral system of trade negotiation. It focuses on key topics such as: the theory of preferential trade agreements; regionalism and multilateralism; the effects of regionalism on the multilateral system; the effects of multilateralism on regionalism; rules of origin and empirical analyses. Scholars and practitioners alike will find this an invaluable set of papers.

These experts present a lively discussion of the pros and cons of the proposals for a flat tax, think through the likely effects of such a radical change, and make clear what can seem a confusing array of facts and figures.

"Preferential trade arrangements (PTAs) are an essential instrument of EU trade policy. Trade brings economic benefits to both the EU and its partner countries and promotes sustainable development and poverty eradication in developing countries. This report evaluates whether PTAs are appropriately managed by both the Commission and Member States. It found that the Commission has not appropriately assessed all the economic effects of PTAs and that the completeness of revenue collection is not ensured because customs controls applied by Member States are weak and there are also deficiencies in the Commission's supervision."-- Page [4] of cover.

The multilateral trade agreements in the Annexes to the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization provide a comprehensive structure for international trade. Why would trading partners in different countries feel the need to go outside this framework in order to set up preferential trade arrangements? This book considers the structure of the World Trade Organization’s agreements and the types of preferential trade arrangements, and deliberates the value of the latter in the light of the operation of the former. Preferential Trade Agreements and International Law offers a comprehensive examination of preferential trade agreements and considers the features of specific regional and bilateral trade agreements without drawing upon systematic features and trends. It shows the latest state of knowledge on the topic and will be of value to researchers, academics, policymakers, and students interested in international trade and economic law.

The Economics of Regional Trading Arrangements provides a unified analysis of policies which discriminate among trading partners. Regionalism became a major issue in international commercial diplomacy during the early 1990s. The proliferation of RTAs was viewed by some as a challenge, and by others as a complement, to the establishment of the World Trade Organization as the successor to GATT. This book analyses the new RTAs. It situates them in the broader realm of discriminatory trade polices for which there is a well-defined body of theory and empirical studies, before asking whether the new regionalism requires new theoretical analysis. The approach is to combine in roughly equal proportions history, theory, and a review of empirical studies. This is appropriate given the key theoretical result is the welfare ambiguity of discriminatory trade policy changes. Empirical studies can provide a sense of which of the potentially offsetting effects are more or less important. Since some effects may take a long time to have their full impact and may be systemic, it is also useful to observe how RTAs have evolved in practice.