In this chapter, I review the literature on governments’ motivations for negotiating and joining international trade agreements. I discuss both normative explanations for trade agreements and explanations based on political-economy concerns. Most of the chapter focuses on the purpose of...

This paper examines how preferential rules of origin that operate under Regional Trade Agreements (RTA) can be utilized to help developing countries. Under the standard territoriality principle, products imported from countries outside of a RTA territory will be treated as non-originating. A...

The growth of digital trade is dependant upon greater interconnectivity across borders. Several countries strive to achieve such interconnectivity and integration in digital trade through international trade agreements. Digital trade integration is a complex, multidimensional process that...

During the past several years, the United States has concluded a substantial number of bilateral and regional free trade agreements (hereinafter “FTAs”), largely with developing countries. Each of those FTAs includes substantial commitments in the field of intellectual property rights (IPRs)...

This chapter examines the thesis that regulatory policies treated in regional trade agreements have an inherently WTO multilateral character, as they are designed and applied on a most-favoured nation (MFN) basis. It surveys general transparency and dispute settlement provisions and selected WTO...

This chapter reviews the several ways that bilateral and regional trade agreements regulate environmental and labour standards and human rights. It divides these into provisions granting the parties rights to adopt protective measures in the form of exceptions and conflicts provisions and...

The proliferation of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) and Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) has given rise to significant debate on the need to measure, understand and possibly regulate the impact these agreements have on the multilateral trading system under the umbrella of the World Trade...

With the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, the pyramidal design of the international trading system placed multilateralism at the top of the pyramid, regionalism/bilateralism in the middle, and the domestic trade and economic policies of WTO Member States at the bottom of...

This paper addresses the impact of TPP-like policies on third countries, looking at the case of Brazil, one of the most important emerging economies. We argue that TPP-like agreements are a way to bypass resistance to neoliberal ordering in the WTO through the institution of alternative fora. We...

In 2015, the Heads of State and Government of COMESA, the EAC and SADC agreed to establish the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) extending from Cape to Cairo, encompassing all twenty-six members of the three groupings. While the TFTA negotiations are ongoing, it is necessary that member states...