Beyond tariffs: multilateralizing non-tariff RTA commitments

http://cwr.yiil.org/home/archives_v3n2_04

“…He proposed to insert the third-party MFN clause in PTAs. 77 With such a clause, any further preferential treatment offered by one party in future treaties will be given unconditionally to the other party. Such a third-party MFN clause could make the preferential treatment in future PTAs spill back to the former PTAs.…”

The Political Economy of Services in Regional Trade Agreements

“…"turf battles" involving different ministries, legislative committees or factions, and sub-national units of government), this is an area where industrialised countries are more likely to be the demandeurs than are developing countries, and the commitments that countries make in these negotiations are less likely to produce real liberalisation or meaningful levels of preferential treatment than is the case for trade in goods. While those points are generally negative, we may still join Baldwin, Evenett, and Low (2009) and -politely ignoring the remarkably mixed nature of their metaphor -ask whether spaghetti bowls can be building blocks.…”

Australia's trade policy dilemmas

“…There is growing interest among trade policy experts in how preferential trade agreements might best be reconciled with multilateralism and the principle of non-discrimination (see for instance Baldwin, Evenett and Low 2007). In WTO debates, Australia has been very active in trying to get a stronger definition of the GATT Article XXIV rules that allow the formation of PTAs*/ without much success given that the overwhelming majority of WTO members are involved in the negotiation of PTAs that have yet to be tested against the existing rules.…”