The BRIICS - Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa - are the largest developing countries in their respective regions. A snapshot of their trade policies shows they have already liberalised trade and foreign direct investment extensively, and thereby plugged themselves into...

Trade policy in Asia is dangerously unbalanced. It rests on a shaky leg of discriminatory bilateral and regional FTAs. Its other WTO leg has gone to sleep: most Asian countries have neglected the WTO in favour of FTAs. Its regional-cooperation arm is limp: grand visions for regional economic...

Trade policy in Asia has switched from non-discriminatory unilateral liberalisation, reinforced by GATT/ WTO commitments, to discriminatory FTAs. The paper surveys the FTA activity of the major regional players: China, India, the ASEAN countries, Japan and South Korea. It concludes that emerging...

A short introduction -- Free trade vs. protection -- The political economy of trade -- The World Trade Organization -- Preferential trade agreements -- Asia, China, and unilateral liberalization -- Conclusion : the future of free trade

This paper interprets China's overall trade policy since its accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) almost a decade ago, and more recently in the wake of the global economic crisis. The first section briefly summarises policy trends leading up to WTO accession, as well as recent trade...