TY - JOUR
T1 - Free Trade Agreements in the World Trade System
T2 - Substance and Semantics
AU - Athukorala, Prema Chandra
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.
PY - 2020/2
Y1 - 2020/2
N2 - Over the past three decades, free trade agreements (FTAs) have become an integral and enduring part of the global trading system. The number of FTAs notified to the World Trade Organization increased from 19 in 1990 to 292 by January 2019.1 However, debate on the economic case for following the FTA path as an alternative to multilateral and unilateral trade liberalisation is far from settled. The purpose of this note is to assess key themes of this policy debate. The focus is solely on the economic rationale of FTAs, even though political considerations play a key role in the proliferation of FTAs.
AB - Over the past three decades, free trade agreements (FTAs) have become an integral and enduring part of the global trading system. The number of FTAs notified to the World Trade Organization increased from 19 in 1990 to 292 by January 2019.1 However, debate on the economic case for following the FTA path as an alternative to multilateral and unilateral trade liberalisation is far from settled. The purpose of this note is to assess key themes of this policy debate. The focus is solely on the economic rationale of FTAs, even though political considerations play a key role in the proliferation of FTAs.
KW - Free trade agreement
KW - World Trade Organization
KW - foreign trade
KW - rules of origin
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106718604&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0015732519886771
DO - 10.1177/0015732519886771
M3 - Article
SN - 0015-7325
VL - 55
SP - 13
EP - 20
JO - Foreign Trade Review
JF - Foreign Trade Review
IS - 1
ER -