Schott (a former official of the U.S. Treasury Department and U.S. negotiator of the GATT Subsidies Code) presents 13 papers that assess previous and new free trade agreements negotiated between the United States and countries around the world. The policy outcomes of established agreements are examined and the objectives of agreements being pursued are discussed. A central concern throughout the text is the extent to which free trade agreements may complement or clash with the development of multilateral trade liberalization through the World Trade Organization system. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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In this conference volume, distinguished economists and trade policymakers address the US initiatives to enter into free trade negotiations with a broad range of countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the Western Hemisphere, and Africa. The sheer number of these initiatives is unprecedented and has provoked major policy questions concerning US interests in the negotiations, the setting of priorities among the many contenders for concluding free trade agreements (FTAs) with the United States, the objectives of those trading partners, and the implications that these agreements could have for broader initiatives such as the Doha Round in the World Trade Organization and the Free Trade Area of the Americas.The papers in the volume were presented during a conference on FTAs and US trade policy, sponsored by the Institute in May 2003. The editor, Jeffrey Schott, summarizes the policy implications drawn from the conference papers and discussions, which are organized around several topics: the conceptual case for FTAs and how they have worked in the past; what FTAs imply for the broader global system; the specific agreements that are already being pursued (Australia, Central America, Morocco, southern Africa) or considered (ASEAN, Brazil, Egypt, Korea, and Taiwan). The volume includes a technical appendix with results of GTAP and gravity model simulations of the trade and welfare effects of the prospective agreements.
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