Regional Trade Agreements: ‘Stepping Stones’ or ‘Stumbling Blocks’ of the WTO?

Abstract

In the early years of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) were a rare phenomenon, limited to the European Economic Community (EEC), the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and a few agreements between Western, industrialised states and their overseas territories. There is a substantial danger that the current world trade order is being undermined by growing regionalism. Against the background of concerns for preserving the world trade order, painstakingly created over the past 50 years, it is becoming increasingly necessary to align RTAs with the existing world trade order and to adapt the World Trade organisation (WTO) to RTAs. First, in order to make them into stepping stones instead of stumbling blocks, the goal of these efforts should be to domesticate integration efforts. Second, the WTO should reform itself with a view to consolidate the various regional interests into a coherent world trade system. Keywords: 'Stumbling; Agreements: 'Stepping; coherent world trade system; European Economic Community (EEC); European Free Trade Association (EFTA); GATT; integration efforts; Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs); stepping stones; World Trade organisation (WTO)