This volume contains a collection of studies examining trade-related issues negotiated in regional trade agreements (RTAs) and how RTAs are related to the WTO's rules. While previous work has focused on subsets of RTAs, these studies are based on what is probably the largest dataset used to date, and highlight key issues that have been negotiated in all RTAs notified to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). New rules within RTAs are compared to rules agreed upon by WTO members. The extent of their divergences and the potential implications for parties to RTAs, as well as for WTO members that are not parties to RTAs, are examined. This volume makes an important contribution to the current debate on the role of the WTO in regulating international trade and how WTO rules relate to new rules being developed by RTAs.

The publication contains an explanation of Most Favored Nation (MFN) treatment and some of the key issues that arise in its negotiation, particularly the scope and application of MFN treatment to the liberalization and protection of foreign investors in recent treaty practice. The paper provides policy options as regards the traditional application of MFN treatment and identifies reactions by States to the unexpected broad use of MFN treatment, and provides several drafting options, such as specifying or narrowing down the scope of application of MFN treatment to certain types of activities, clarifying the nature of "treatment" under the IIA, clarifying the comparison that an arbitral tribunal needs to undertake as well as a qualification of the comparison "in like circumstances" or excluding its use in investor-State cases.

This Book charts the evolution of the multilateral trading system over the last half-century and explores the future outlook for the intergovernmental body that constitutes its institutional base and which is responsible for governing the conduct of global commerce, the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The author, a leading authority on international trade, identifies the distinct trends that have characterised the historical progression of the system, from the formulation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 through the WTO's inception in 1995 to the present day. He examines how the GATT/WTO framework has traditionally been used by the major industrial nations as a vehicle to pursue their narrow economic and political interests, at the expense of Third World countries' development prospects. This North-South imbalance continues to pervade the multilateral trade regime today, in the form of inherent inequities in the WTO agreements and their implementation, and attempts to insert potentially damaging new issues into the WTO agenda. Further, this book traces the intimate links between these substantive deficiencies and the WTO's murky decision-making processes, which are dominated by its developed-country members to the detriment of the developing countries.

The world trade system : trends and challenges / Jagdish Bhagwati, Pravin Krishna and Arvind Panagariya -- Issues in trade policy -- Border tax equalization / Steve Charnovitz -- Trade, poverty and inequality / Devashish Mitra -- Dispute settlement : the influence of preferential trade agreements on litigation between trading partners / Petros Mavroidis and Andre Sapir -- Anti-dumping provisions within preferential trade agreements / Tom Prusa -- The wto trade facilitation agreement : milestone, mirage, or mistake? / Bernard Hoekman -- Agriculture : food security and trade liberalization / Stefan Tangermann -- Regional perspectives -- Trans Pacific Partnership : perspectives from China / Mary Lovely and Dimitar Gueorguiev -- Trans Atlantic Free trade : the view from Germany / Gabriel Felbermayr -- Administered protection in the eu : implications for TTIP / Jonas Kasteng

"This volume provides an analytical approach to most of the major items on the agenda of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, which was convened in 1986 under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)." "The Uruguay Round negotiating agenda is ambitious in scope, consisting of such topics as barriers to trade, sectoral issues, and GATT rules, and a number of topics that had not been addressed in previous negotiations. The Multilateral Trading System begins with an introduction and overview of the issues, followed by two chapters that put the Uruguay Round in context and provide some historical perspective relating to previous GATT negotiations. The bulk of the volume consists of twelve analytical chapters that address many of the central issues, including tariffs and nontariff barriers; dumping; safeguards; agriculture; services; trade-related intellectual property rights; and trade-related investment measures. The concluding chapters deal with options for change, focusing on trade-offs, coalitions, and national interests and on suggestions for the design of a new constitution to govern the global trading system." "The Multilateral Trading System deals with issues of central importance in the global trading system. It will be of particular interest to specialists in international trade and staff economists in national and international agencies. Specialists and students in political science, law, and business administration will also find much that is useful."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Human Rights and Capitalism brings together two important facets of the globalization debate and examines the complex relationship between human rights, property rights and capitalist economies. Human rights issues have become increasingly important in this debate and their place as harbingers of justice or as an instrument of oppression is fiercely contended. Both sides of this issue are considered in the contributions to this book and the complex relationships between human rights, human dignity and capitalist economies are the themes running throughout the work. Appearing at a time when these issues are a subject of extreme controversy, this book is distinguished by its balanced and academic approach.