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This book investigates the appropriate relationship between regionalism and multilateralism, with a special reference to recent FTAs in Asia. It is undeniable that past trade multilateralism-regionalism debates centered on the trade-in-goods aspect.
Deep trade agreements (DTAs) cover not just trade but additional policy areas, such as international flows of investment and labor and the protection of intellectual property rights and the environment. Their goal is integration beyond trade or deep integration. These agreements matter for economic development. Their rules influence how countries (and hence, the people and firms that live and operate within them) transact, invest, work, and ultimately, develop. Trade and investment regimes determine the extent of economic integration, competition rules affect economic efficiency, intellectual property rights matter for innovation, and environmental and labor rules contribute to environmental and social outcomes. This Handbook provides the tools and data needed to analyze these new dimensions of integration and to assess the content and consequences of DTAs. The Handbook and the accompanying database are the result of collaboration between experts in different policy areas from academia and other international organizations, including the International Trade Centre (ITC), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and World Trade Organization (WTO).
It is an appropriate time to rethink the relationship between trade regionalism and multilateralism in the Asian context as we witness the proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs) in Asia. In the 1980s and 1990s, many scholars and policymakers believed that Asian integration was market-based, rather than legal-based, and that Asian integration would never be codified through agreements. Yet today, there are a large number of FTAs signed and under negotiation in Asia.This book investigates the appropriate relationship between regionalism and multilateralism, with a special reference to recent FTAs in Asia. It is undeniable that past trade multilateralism-regionalism debates centered on the trade-in-goods aspect. However, the majority of recent FTAs in Asia cover issues beyond trade-in-goods and tariff liberalization, such as trade facilitation, services, and economic cooperation. While the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Article XXIV governs regional integration initiatives in trade in goods, there is no (or at most a thin) World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement that stipulates the relationship between regionalism and multilateralism in issue areas other than goods.Thus, this study carefully considers the meaning of “WTO-compatible FTAs” by distinguishing “WTO consistency” and “WTO friendliness”, going beyond GATT Article XXIV debates and proposes a general framework for examining the openness of regionalism in various issue areas by identifying tree-type questions to distinguish several types of exclusiveness. It then specifically asks the following questions: Can Asian FTAs that cover several issues be considered multilateralism friendly? How does the relationship between regionalism and multilateralism differ between trade-in-goods and non-goods issue areas? What are policies that might reduce the exclusiveness of regional initiatives? The study concludes by listing counterintuitive policy suggestions to make FTAs truly WTO compatible. The book also includes a comprehensive list of FTAs in Asia and several WTO Agreements relating to trade regionalism.
Progress in multilateral negotiations to liberalize trade under the World Trade Organization (WTO) has become more difficult since newer members are generally developing countries with different interests than the United States, the European Union and other industrialized countries. More than 250 free trade agreements (FTAs) have come into effect since 1948. Partly as a result of the WTO impasse, over 130 FTAs have been ratified just in the past ten years; each agreement has been designed to eliminate trade restrictions and subsidies between the parties involved. Almost all of the WTO Members participate in one or more FTAs (some Members are party to twenty or more). Most books on FTAs are country- or region-specific, while others deal with the subject from a particular perspective. This timely work, produced by some of the world's leading experts in their respective fields, employs a broader approach exploring FTAs from the interdisciplinary perspectives of international law, political economy, culture and human rights
The Asian Economic Integration Monitor is a semiannual review of Asia's regional economic cooperation and integration. It covers the 48 regional members of the Asian Development Bank. This issue includes two theme chapters: i) Toward an ASEAN Economic Community---and Beyond; and ii) World Trade Facilitation Negotiations---Asian Perspectives.
This book assesses the challenges confronting the Factory Asia model. It examines how countries that are already part of Factory Asia can move up the value chain, and how economies that currently stand outside the parameters of Factory Asia can find ways to join the global network production system. The book hinges on two tasks: first, how fast can Asia expand its own domestic and regional markets; and second, how fast can Asia upgrade its competitiveness in the manufacturing sector. As analyzed in great detail and depth in this book, small and big obstacles stand in the way of fulfilling these tasks. Without clever economic reasoning, shrewd strategy, and immense political entrepreneurship, the new Factory Asia will remain as an unfinished agenda. This book will serve as catalyst for officials, experts and industries to facilitate a larger public dialogue in and out of Asia, and help generate momentum for the transformation of Asia into a more inclusive and sustainable platform for the future of Factory Asia. Contents Tables and Figures Contributors Foreword Executive Summary Abbreviations PartⅠ Beyond Factory Asia 1. Beyond Factory Asia: Fuelling Growth in a Changing World 2. Can Free Trade Agreements Support the Growth or Spread of Factory Asia PartⅡ Outsourcing Risks of Asian Manufacturing and Services 3. The Effect of International Outsourcing on Job Growth in the Republic of Korea 4. Do Small and Medium Enterprises Gain from Global Production Networks Evidence from the Republic of Korea 5. Changing Competitiveness of the Japanese Manufacturing Sector and Firms in Regional Production Networks in Asia 6. Services Sector Integration in Asia: Emerging Regional Service Business Models PartⅢ Source of Germany’s Competitiveness in Manufacturing 7. What has been Maintaining Germany’s Competitiveness in Manufacturing
This book provides an in-depth analysis of "Mega-Regionals", the new generation of trans-regional free-trade agreements (FTAs) currently under negotiation, and their effect on the future of international economic law. The main focus centres on the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), but the findings are also applicable to similar agreements under negotiation, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).The specific features of Mega-Regional Trade Agreements raise a number of issues with respect to their potential effect on the current system of international trade and investment law. These include the consequences of Mega-Regionals for the most-favoured-nation (MFN) principle, their relation to the multilateral system of the World Trade Organization (WTO), their democratic legitimacy and their interaction with existing bilateral investment treaties (BITs).The book is intended for academics and practitioners working in the field of international economic law.