China's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) commitments represent the most radical services reform program negotiated in the World Trade Organization. China has promised to eliminate over the next few years most restrictions on foreign entry and ownership, as well as most forms of...

Every major regional trade agreement now has a services dimension. Is trade in services so different that there is need to modify the conclusions on preferential agreements pertaining to goods reached so far? Mattoo and Fink first examine the implications of unilateral policy choices in a...

June 2000 - If negotiations on trade in services at the World Trade Organization are to advance liberalization beyond levels undertaken unilaterally and lead to more balanced outcomes, reciprocity must play a greater role in negotiations. This may be facilitated by the use of negotiating rules...

Services are the fastest growing sector of the global economy, and trade and foreign direct investment in services have grown faster than in goods over the past decade. Technological progress has greatly enhanced the scope for trade in conventional services, such as education and finance, and...

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) has created a more secure environment for trade in services, but it has not created the negotiating momentum to reduce protection or the rules to ensure that protection takes a considerable form. In dealing with the trade-impeding impact of...

Decades of services trade negotiations have produced a plethora of rules and commitments but limited real liberalization. One reason is a form of "negotiating tunnel vision," which has led to a focus on reciprocal market opening rather than on creating the regulatory preconditions for...