The rapid growth in the number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) has led to concern about the weakening of the multilateral trading system. This paper looks at the spread of such agreements and the extent which they pose a threat to the system.

The WTO has not been able to recover since the collapse of the Doha Round in July 2008. Several ministerial conferences including the Buenos Aires meeting in December 2017 failed to reach agreement. The US Trump Administration launched a campaign to reform the WTO in 2018 and 2019. This book...

The World Trade Organization's (WTO) Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (CRTA) is charged with monitoring, examining, and ensuring the compliance of notified RTAs. We develop a comprehensive dataset covering 290 regional economic integration agreements and ask whether oversight and...