Unimpeded world trade is still a dream. We may have virtually eliminated borders, but persistent discriminatory measures within borders – in the shapes of restrictive investment policies, inappropriate regulatory interference, and restraints on competition – still have the power to stifle foreign entrants to domestic markets.
Completing the World Trading System proposes to confront these trade-distorting forces at a new round of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Drawing on many years of international trade law practice and policymaking, the authors present a detailed agenda designed to:
deepen market access for all goods, services, and intellectual property facilitate and protect investment by foreign enterprises
overcome disparities of national regulatory schemes
ensure nondiscriminatory business operation in foreign markets
reinforce and support evolving international economic realities
This timely, forward-looking book also shows how major regional trading arrangements have in fact achieved deeper economic integration than the WTO regime. Incorporating this evidence--as well as other proposals from the academic and policy communities--Completing the World Trading System crystallizes the most important trends in current international trade law.
- Introduction
- The Vision of Cordell Hull and Early International Trade Agreements
- Multilateral Approaches to Trade Liberalization
- Non-Multilateral Approaches to Trade Liberalization
- A Proposal for a WTO Agreement on Investment
- Proposals for WTO Regulatory Reform
- Proposal for a WTO Agreement on Competition Policy
- Unifying the WTO: A Proposal to Ensure International Contestable Markets
- Conclusions