Regional Trade Agreements in a Multilateral Trade Regime

Parthapratim Pal

Foreign Trade Review, 2005, vol. 40, issue 1, 27-48

Abstract: One of the most striking developments in the world trading system since the mid 1990s has been the surge in Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs). From about 50 till 1990, the number of RTAs has crossed 250 in 2003. As trading within RTAs does not come under the purview of World Trade Organization (WTO), this explosive growth of regionalism is threatening to emerge as an alternative to the WTO led international trading system. This has initiated an intense debate among economists whether RTAs are “building blocks†or “stumbling blocks†of the multilateral trading system. In this backdrop, this paper traces the reasons behind this resurgent regionalism and surveys the literature on RTAs and its interaction with the multilateral trading system. This paper attempts to look at these issues from the perspective of a developing country.

Date: 2005
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:fortra:v:40:y:2005:i:1:p:27-48

DOI: 10.1177/0015732515050102

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