Unlike the European Union’s aim of creating a single market and a harmonized regulatory regime, the WTO is a less ambitious enterprise. Its central focus has been non-discrimination in the form of Most Favoured Nation and National Treatment standards and anti-trade protectionism. But while the...

Our aim is to test the idea that the WTO’s ability to regulate RTAs is likely to decline with the proliferation of RTAs worldwide. According to this idea: (1) “people who live in glass houses should not throw stones”, (2) with the proliferation of RTAs, WTO members are likely to place...

Compared with Europe and America, East Asia isa latecomer in the new gold-rush of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). In this process, China has played a significant role. This is not only due to the growing economic clout of China, but also because China has taken a conscious strategy to push for...

Despite being the largest free trade agreement (FTA) in the world, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is often criticized as a shallow FTA. In this essay, however, we contend that the RCEP is better understood in the context of the great power rivalry between the United...

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. It starts with the negotiating history, then discusses the major substantive obligations, and concludes with some thoughts on its economic impacts and future prospects