Neither of the major negotiations underway in the Asia-Pacific region, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, includes both China and the United States. By failing to connect these economies, these agreements would leave much of the economic and...

We examine empirically whether and how non-tariff measures (NTMs) affect the formation of free trade agreements (FTAs). Using data from 114 countries over the period 1986-2019 and applying an augmented gravity model, we show that some of the investigated NTMs encourage, some discourage, and some...