The Multilateral Trading System and Preferential Trade Agreements: Can the Negative Effects Be Minimized?(Report)
By Global Governance
- Release Date: 2009-07-01
- Genre: Politics & Current Events
Description
********** One of the greatest challenges for the multilateral trading system in the twenty-first century is the rise of preferential trade agreements (PTAs). (1) Both the number and the scope of these agreements are rising rapidly. The collapse of yet another ministerial meeting of the Doha Round, in July 2008 in Geneva, will further fuel the trend toward preferential agreements. Moreover, the global economic and financial crisis has further reduced the willingness of policymakers to support trade liberalization. In many countries, the pendulum is swinging from trade liberalization to economic nationalism. The multilateral trading system is suffering from the economic crisis at the same time as the preferential agreements continue to thrive.
