In October 2018, Trump, alongside his Mexican and Canadian counterparts, delivered what many have dubbed “NAFTA 2.0.” But the new U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) adopts not only a new name, but also a new approach to ISDS within its Chapter 14. On November 30, 2018 the leaders of...

This paper attempts to answer one crucial research question, why the utilization of India Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) route for trade is very poor by the India exporters (13%) as compared to their Sri Lankan Counterpart (65%) even after one decade of its implementation? The available...

Over 200 bilateral and regional trade agreements are currently in force, yet their impact remains a topic of debate. We analyse effects of 27 agreements that are of particular importance for Australia on the value of merchandise trade flows using data from 1970 up to the global financial crisis...

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on regionalism. The formation of regional trade agreements has been, by far, the most popular form of reciprocal trade liberalization in the past 15 years. The discriminatory character of these agreements has raised three main concerns:...

We develop a novel two-stage methodology that allows us to study the empirical determinants of the ex post effects of past free trade agreements (FTAs) as well as obtain ex ante predictions for the effects of future FTAs. We first identify 908 unique estimates of the effects of FTAs on different...

In 2015, the Heads of State and Government of COMESA, the EAC and SADC agreed to establish the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) extending from Cape to Cairo, encompassing all twenty-six members of the three groupings. While the TFTA negotiations are ongoing, it is necessary that member states...

The mega regional trade agreements – the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) – will impact on non-parties through a combination of trade...

Inter-regional free trade agreements (FTAs) -- notably between Asia and Latin America -- are growing in numbers and complexity. There is an absence of an agreed methodology for empirical assessments on the content of FTAs and little research. This paper proposes a framework to assess...

The number of operative regional trading agreements (RTAs) has been rising steadily. This paper reviews the history of regionalism, and argues that the increasing focus of RTAs on nontariff measures and non-trade issues make the creation of coalitions of countries to pursue specific rather than...