The role and shape of international trade agreements is changing. No longer simple devices for easing the movement of goods across borders, it is becoming both an instrument of integrated economic regulation at the supra national level and a tool of international relations within the emerging...

What kind of technical assistance and capacity building benefits do developing countries enjoy if they sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with developed countries? This is a frequently asked question among developing country officials involved in FTA policymaking. While we tend to normatively...

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is currently in a very challenging situation. After years of negotiation, the TPP was finally signed. However, once Trump Administration has begun, the United States of America is no longer supporting the TPP and this uncertain situation may generate new...

After over seven years of showcasing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as a significant part of its foreign policy toward Asia, the United States officially withdrew from the agreement in January. Japan—the one-time liberalization laggard who drew intense criticism for trade barriers in the...

This paper addresses treaty-based investor-state arbitration (ISA) and other forms of investor-state dispute settlement. The topic has become particularly controversial for Australia, given its ongoing Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Japan – which is also considering joining...

Free trade agreements (FTAs) and regional trade agreements (RTAs), as a national policy, have proliferated in the recent decades as countries perceived trade agreements to effectively reduce trade barriers, thus helping expand market access, protect local markets, and enhance efficiency and...

Japan and India signed the much-awaited Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) on 16th February 2011. The CEPA will eliminate tariff on goods that account for 94% of their two way trade over ten years and will boost bilateral trade and investment. Indian exports which were subject...