Regional Trade Agreements

David Gantz, Samuel M. Fegtly Professor of Law and Director, International Trade and Business Law Program, University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law. Various regional trading arrangements have existed for many years. However, regional trade agreements (RTAs), including but not limited to free trade agreements and customs unions as defined in Article XXIV GATT 1994, have only recently become the darlings of international trade negotiators. WTO Members are not abandoning the WTO, which with its GATT predecessor has served the world economy well for more than sixty years. Rather, in addition to frustration with the stalled ‘Doha Development Agenda’ negotiations in Geneva, some WTO Members increasingly believe that it may be possible to accomplish a degree of trade liberalization on a sub-global level that is impossible or at least more difficult to achieve globally. Others remain staunchly committed to a global approach, criticizing the RTA movement as a beggar-thy-neighbour policy that primarily diverts resources and personnel from the multilateral negotiation, liberalization, and law making process, and isolates the less significant trading nations. Given...