The Preferential Liberalization of Trade in Services

Services account for three quarters of GDP in many countries but less than a quarter of global trade. This insightful volume assesses recent evidence on services trade barriers, the extent to which preferential trade agreements liberalize trade in services and whether such liberalization benefits only participants or extends to non-member countries. It provides an excellent overview of the state of knowledge in this important area, as well as a number of detailed case studies of recent trade agreements that include services.'

- Bernard Hoekman, European University Institute, Italy'Sky-high barriers to services trade are the foremost obstacle confronting 21st century trade ministers and create a major impediment to global growth. Ministers have made commendable progress in several regional trade agreements but not much in the World Trade Organization. This volume charts the terrain and provides an essential guide to the achievements and shortcomings of preferential liberalization.'

- Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Peterson Institute for International Economics, US

This book fills an important gap in the trade literature by offering a comprehensive cross-regional comparison of approaches to preferential market opening and rule-making in the area of trade in services. Chronicling the spectacular recent rise of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) in services and with contributions from some of the world's leading experts, the book examines the forces shaping the demand for preferences in services trade. It asks whether and how preferential advances differ from, go further than, and might ultimately inform the development of multilateral disciplines on services under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).

The book's core focus is on comparative scholarship, directing attention to the substantive features of services PTAs around the globe and exploring the iterative nature of rule-making and market opening in a still nascent field of trade diplomacy. It advances a number of ideas on how to multilateralize PTA advances in services and takes stock of the likely impact on the WTO system of ongoing attempts at crafting a plurilateral agreement on trade in services.

Trade negotiators and policy officials working in the field of trade and investment in services as well as academics in the fields of law, economics and international political economy will find much of use in this authoritative study.

Contributors: S. Abeysinghe, M. Bosworth, R. Chanda, A. Mattoo, M. Robert, M. Roy, P. Sauvé, S. Stephenson, I. Streho, R. Trewin, N. Ward