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The research information will be gathered from a wide array of sources, including books, journals, and websites of organisations such as OECD, WTO, the World bank and so forth. The research will thus seek to justify that regional trading blocs are building blocks to liberalisation of international trade. While most existing literature shows that trading blocs are a hindrance to liberalisation of trade in line with the aims of the WTO, the planned research aims to demystify the analogies of the 1930s which largely viewed regional trading bloc as obstacles to international trade. The aim of the research is to analyse the role played by regional trading blocs with reference to liberalisation of international trade. The research will delve on the dual role of trading blocs: as building blocks and as stumbling blocks to liberalisation of international trade. The focus of the research is on the various ways in which regional trading blocs affect trading blocs.
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But this is an issue that needs to be investigated deeply to show how regional trading blocs actually affect liberalisation of international trade. While regional trading blocs promote liberalisation of trade between the member states of a trading bloc, they impose restrictions to other states. The above overview of regional trading blocs implies that different opinions can be stated regarding how trading blocs affect liberalisation of trade. Equally, under the WTO as well as under its predecessor, the GATT, trade discrimination is promoted through the use of the principles of the Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) that requires treatment of other people equally as pertains to trade and the principle of National Treatment which stipulates that foreigners and locals should be treated equally in trade matters. The preamble of the GATT is very clear on promoting non-discrimination in international trade by reinforcing the need for reciprocal and equally advantageous arrangements focused on substantial cutbacks in tariffs and other obstacles to trade and to the abolition of discriminatory treatment in international trade. The second aspect of trade blocs however seems to be in conflict with the motive of the GATT/WTO system. Notably, although trade blocs have different structures, they are premised on the same objective, that is, to lessen trade barriers among member states. In the same magnitude, the WTO offers an environment for negotiating agreements that are focused on reducing barriers to international trade and making sure that trade is carried out on a basis of openness, thus contributing to economic growth as well as development.
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The principle of Non-discrimination under the GATT stipulates that no member state shall show prejudice between GATT members during the operations of world trade. The first aspect of trade blocs above is in line with the mission of the World trade Organisation (WTO) and its antecedent, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The two key features of a trade bloc is that (1) it involves a cutback or abolition of obstacles to trade, and (2) the trade liberalisation that is attained through the trade bloc is discriminatory in purview of the fact that it is applicable only to the member states of the trade bloc and non-member countries are shown prejudice in their dealings with members of the trade bloc. Regional trade blocs are formed by neighbouring countries or countries that are in close proximity to each other. 2.1 Trade blocs as stumbling blocks to liberalisation of tradeĢ.2 Regional trade blocs as building blocks to liberalisation of international tradeĢ.3 Regional trading blocs and political stability, democratic development and security issuesĢ.4 Concluding remarking on the review of literatureĬHAPTER 3: ANALYSIS OF THE REGIONAL TRADING BLOCSģ.1 Analysis of the selected regional blocsĬHAPTER 4: HOW REGIONAL BLOCS ENHANCE TRADE LIBERALISATIONĤ.1 Evidence from trade statistics between regionsĤ.1.1 EU relations trade with other regional trading blocs/countriesĤ.1.1.2 The EU, Latin America, and the Caribbean (LAC)Ĥ.1.1.3 EU versus Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP)Ĥ.1.2 ASEAN relations trade with other regional trading blocs/countriesĤ.2 Trading blocs and foreign direct investment (FDI)Ĥ.3 Regional trading blocs and the gravity modelĪ trade bloc is a preferential trade agreement between a range of nations, aimed at significantly reducing or removing trade barriers within the member states.