Trade and Investment Rule-making: The Role of Regional and Bilateral Agreements

The recent growth of regional trade agreements indicates they will assume greater importance in shaping trade and investment rules. To date most systematic work on regional or other preferential agreements has looked at their impact in terms of tariff preferences. But as tariffs are further reduced, rulemaking becomes more important in trade and investment. This book addresses the role of regional and bilateral agreements in rulemaking. It provides an analytical framework for assessing the impact of regional and other preferential agreements and illustrates the role of regional agreements in seven detailed case studies. Trade and Investment Rulemaking demonstrates that regional agreements can make a positive contribution to the evolution of predictable trade and investment rules—but much depends on the kind of rules they promote. The book contributes toward a better understanding of the role of regional rulemaking.