Trade Regionalism of Tomorrow: Entanglement of Mega-Regionals Versus WTO

Sebastian Bobowski

Abstract

The aim of the article is to study the implications of mega-regional trade agreements, namely, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and Free Trade Area of Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) on the multilateral trade system under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The regional trade agreements (RTAs) tend to perceived as manifestation of regionalism, however, both in terms of building or stumbling blocks. The World Economic Forum defined mega-regional trade agreements as deep integration partnerships taking the form of regional trade agreements (RTAs) engaging countries or regions accounting for major share of world trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). The emergence of mega-regionals might potentially threaten the relevance and centrality of WTO, undermining the greater inclusiveness of the multilateral trade system. Thus, evolution of the latter would be a logic consequence of mega-regionalism in trade.