Globalization and world trade: From multilateralism to regionalism

Abstract

The integration of developing countries into world markets, and very particularly those in Latin America, is transforming international economic relations. Increasing economic openness should be a conducive environment not just for increasing trade opportunities for developing countries, but also for an invigoration of multilateralism. However, the new economic “openness” is posing a serious challenge to the existing international system of governance created under the GATT to regulate international trade relations. Developing countries have always felt that the rules and procedures of the GATT discriminated against them, while developed countries argued that they had excluded themselves from the benefits of multilateralism by adhering to import substitution. Now that some developing countries are liberalizing their economies, they are finding that globalization has not accelerated multilateralism in the global trading system over the last decade. Rather, multilateralism has slowed down. The paper attempts to explain this paradox and to point to the challenges posed to international trade by the widespread adoption of liberal trade policies.