The Sovereign Remedy? Trade Agreements in a Globalizing World

International trade and the rapidly proliferating network of trade agreements have aroused passions for decades. While some blame trade agreements for exporting jobs, sowing poverty, furthering illegal migration, and robbing national sovereignty, others praise them as lynchpins of growth, pillars of peace, guarantors of security, and engines of globalization. Still others view them as useful instruments for fostering global trade and investment. This book examines whether trade agreements merit the blame levelled against them or the hopes pinned on them. It employs extensive new historical data on trade agreements to examine the features of the ongoing trade agreement wave; analyzes the future implications of trade agreements in the context of the multilateral trading system, world trade, and international politics; and puts forth novel policy proposals to make trade agreements a more constructive force in the global economy.

1 - Introduction
2 - Tides of Trade Integration
3 - Cooperating to Trade, Trading to Cooperate
4 - Intricate Designs: The Architecture of Trade Agreements
5 - Disciplining Trade Agreements: Toward Multilateralization?
6 - Managing the Spaghetti Bowl of Trade Agreements
7 - Conclusion: Making More of Trade Agreements

Antoni Estevadeordal is currently the Manager of Integration and Trade Sector at the Inter-American Development Bank. He has expertise in trade policy, economic integration and regional cooperation policies in Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Europe, and has contributed to multiple Bank operations, in particular in the design of new programming instruments and financial products to support trade development and regional integration initiatives. Before joining the IDB he taught at the University of Barcelona and Harvard University and has published widely in major journals. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Barcelona. Kati Suominen has served since 2003 as International Trade Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, where she leads team research projects on global and preferential trade integration, and coordinates inter-institutional initiatives with other international institutions, including the World Trade Organization. She holds a PhD in Political Science and International Relations from the University of California, San Diego and an MA in International Relations from Boston University.