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Browsing Business School publications by Author "ABEAI 2009"

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    Implications from the increase in regional trade agreements: Aid or impediment to multilateral trade liberalization?
    (Pamplin School of Business Administration, 2009) Varzaly, Jenifer Arezu; Annual Applied Business and Entrepreneurship Association International Conference (6th : 2009 : Hawaii, USA); ABEAI 2009; Business School
    In the modern era of international trade, international institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) have encouraged liberalism at the multilateral level, at the same time as having regard to the national sovereignty of individual states. The ultimate objective of the WTO was established as free trade, and this was viewed as best being achieved through multilateral agreements which would apply to all WTO members. Multilateral agreements are trade agreements between all WTO member countries that are required to satisfy the most favoured nation (MFN) principle. Regional and bilateral agreements comprise trade agreements in which a number or group of countries form preferential trade agreements that give a discriminatory concessions to member countries. For the purpose of this paper, regional trade agreements (RTAs) will refer to all forms of interstate cooperation falling under GATT Article XXIV, including bilateral, preferential trade and free trade agreements. RTAs have increased markedly in number over the last 15 years and have become a very prominent aspect of the multilateral trading system. For example, from 1995 to 2005, the WTO was notified of more than 130 new RTAs, which was more than the previous 46 years combined. As of December 2008 around 421 RTAs had been notified to the WTO, and around 400 of these are scheduled to be implemented by 2010. The proliferation of RTAs over the past 15 years certainly raises the pertinent issue as to whether these are positive developments in international trade, or whether they serve to undermine the multilateral trading system. This paper examines this issue from a macro perspective, looking broadly at whether RTAs support or hinder the multilateral trading framework.