Daniel Drezner notes that while the U.S. is hopeful for more progress on the Doha trade talks that it also appears to be hedging its bets by signing a number of bilateral free-trade deals.
For the past several years there has been an intense debate among trade specialists whether such bilateral deals help or hurt matters. A number of economists, perhaps most notably Jagdish Bhagwati, have argued that such bilaterals deals are counter-productive as they only serve to distort the international trading system and substitute for more helpful broad-based agreements. Others -- and this is the camp I place myself in -- believe that while perhaps not ideal, bilaterals still help push the free trade cause forward and that something is better than nothing.
Whether the U.S. push to sign deals with South Korea and Malaysia produce renewed momentum for Doha will be a key test of this theory. Personally I think there are some encouraging signs this is the case.
For the past several years there has been an intense debate among trade specialists whether such bilateral deals help or hurt matters. A number of economists, perhaps most notably Jagdish Bhagwati, have argued that such bilaterals deals are counter-productive as they only serve to distort the international trading system and substitute for more helpful broad-based agreements. Others -- and this is the camp I place myself in -- believe that while perhaps not ideal, bilaterals still help push the free trade cause forward and that something is better than nothing.
Whether the U.S. push to sign deals with South Korea and Malaysia produce renewed momentum for Doha will be a key test of this theory. Personally I think there are some encouraging signs this is the case.
No comments:
Post a Comment