Multilateralizing Regionalism

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) have proliferated around the world in the past two decades, and now virtually all the members of the WTO are party to at least one. Besides tariffs and rules of origin regulating trade in goods, many RTAs now include provisions on services, investment, technical barriers to trade and competition rules, as well as a host of issues not directly related to trade. The geograph-ical reach of RTAs is expanding, with transcontinental agreements spreading forcefully alongside intraregional agreements.