Multilateralism: 4.2.1.4 Trends In Regional Integration

2.1.4 Trends in Regional Integration
2.1.4.1 Regionalism versus Multilateralism
The Uruguay round was the longest of all the GATT rounds of multilateral trade negotiations. Started in 1986 with 91 GATT signatories and culminated in the creation of the WTO in 1995. One important development of the Uruguay round of multilateral trade negotiation was the fact that developing countries had played a more active part in the Uruguay round than in any previous multilateral trading negotiations (Pomfret, 1997). Anne O. Krueger, 1999 also confirms that until the Uruguay round of multilateral trade negotiations, the developing countries were generally observers. It further argues that developing countries benefited as ‘free rider’ from whatever reductions
Regionalism one time in the past has got paramount attention meanwhile for some time it was forgotten as its rival idea of multilateralism came into being. Today regionalism is back with a vengeance. In its current incarnation, regionalism has engulfed all major players in the world economy. Division of the world into three trading blocs, never an issue in the first round, is being debated seriously. Confidence in the GATT process of multilateral trade negotiation is on the decline while enthusiasm toward the regional approach is on the rise. This shift of thinking is particularly evident from the experience of the United States. The US was an ardent defender of multilateralism and formidable opponent of regionalism in the 1960’s. These days US have become an active perpetrator of regionalism. In the first round, regionalism was scarcely viewed as a threat to multilateralism. Today, there is a distinct possibility that regionalism will divide the industrial world into three trading blocs; Europe, the Americas, and East Asia. This has brought the global aspect of regionalism to the front of the policy debate between the defenders of multilateralism and proponents of regionalism. On the one hand, trading blocs are seen as catastrophic to multilateralism; on the other hand, they are seen as the key to the successful completion of the free world trade (Jame de Melo and Panagriya,
The European community has grown large and undergoing a deeper integration. Japan and the East Asian newly industrializing economies, hardly significant players in the world economy immediately after the Second World War, have emerged as major economic forces. These developments along with foot-dragging by the European community at the Uruguay round and a perception that Japanese markets are closed to United States suppliers have fuelled the anti-multilateralist ethos in the United States moved it to consider forming a block of its own. The results of these developments are the formation of the Canada US Free Trade Agreement (CUSTA); the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the Enterprise of Americas Initiatives (EAI). This conversion of the US to regionalism has encouraged similar developments in East Asia. Some countries in East Asia are reassessing the possible gains from regional integration. And hence, a move is under way to turn the association of Southern East Asian Nations (ASEAN) into the ASEAN Free Trade Area (De Melo and Panagriya, 1992). For all these reasons and developments regionalism is now at its maximum attention by the industrial world in