The Domestic Politics of International Trade considers the issues surrounding intellectual property rights in international trade negotiations in order to examine the challenges posed to domestic policy-makers by the increasingly broad nature of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Throughout the book the author demonstrates the importance of domestic politics in understanding the nature and outcome of international negotiations, particularly as they relate to international economic diplomacy. The book looks in detail at the intellectual property negotiations which formed part of the US-Peru and US-Colombia Free Trade Agreements and analyses the extent to which public health authorities and other parties affected by the increased levels of intellectual property protection were integrated into the negotiation process. The book then juxtaposes these findings with an analysis of the domestic origins of US negotiation objectives in the field of intellectual property, paying particular attention to the role of the private sector in the development of these objectives. Based on a substantial amount of empirical research, including approximately 100 interviews with negotiators, capital based policy-makers, private sector representatives, and civil society organisations in Lima, Bogotá and Washington, DC, this book offers a rare account of different stakeholders’ perceptions of the FTA negotiation process. Ultimately, the book succeeds in integrating the study of domestic politics with that of international negotiations. This book will be of particular interest to academics as well as practitioners and students in the fields of international law, economic law, intellectual property, political economy, international relations, comparative politics and government.

Of particular interest to negotiators, economists, and all academics who specialise in international trade policy.

On November 17, 1938, Great Britain, the United States, and Canada, after four years of discussion and manoeuvre, signed two wide–ranging and interlocking trade agreements. A few large elements dominated the talks. The Americans wanted to breach the walls of the British imperial preferential tariff system. The British were anxious to retain markets and political support in the British dominions and the Baltic, while protecting their domestic agriculture and improving political relations with the United States. Canada, whose acquiescence and co–operation were necessitated by the pre–existing network of trade agreements, hoped to win new export markets, to retain old ones, and to achieve international political tranquility through economic means. Although the negotiations began with a mixture of lofty and ignoble motives, in the end the latter predominated. The authors have drawn on archival and statistical materials in all three countries to provide a clear and detailed account of the economic context of the mid–1930s, the process of negotiations, the issues, and the political and economic significance, both then and now, of the final agreements. Their work is a valuable case–study of the problems that face any country that tries to negotiate freer trade. It is therefore full of contemporary resonance and relevance, and will be of interest to students of and specialists in modern history (European, British, and North American), international relations, and international economic policy.

This book analyzes the much-needed and vastly under-studied subject of bargaining coalitions of developing countries in the GATT and WTO. This is an extremely important contribution to the field.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of "Mega-Regionals", the new generation of trans-regional free-trade agreements (FTAs) currently under negotiation, and their effect on the future of international economic law. The main focus centres on the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), but the findings are also applicable to similar agreements under negotiation, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).The specific features of Mega-Regional Trade Agreements raise a number of issues with respect to their potential effect on the current system of international trade and investment law. These include the consequences of Mega-Regionals for the most-favoured-nation (MFN) principle, their relation to the multilateral system of the World Trade Organization (WTO), their democratic legitimacy and their interaction with existing bilateral investment treaties (BITs).The book is intended for academics and practitioners working in the field of international economic law.

Draws on both theory and evaluations of several major Preferential trading arrangements (PTAs) to discuss the constraints to achieving liberalisation in PTAs and key problems facing negotiators trying to achieve the best outcomes within given political economy constraints, such as choice of rules of origin and dispute settlement procedures.

On November 17, 1938, Great Britain, the United States, and Canada, after four years of discussion and manoeuvre, signed two wide–ranging and interlocking trade agreements. A few large elements dominated the talks. The Americans wanted to breach the walls of the British imperial preferential tariff system. The British were anxious to retain markets and political support in the British dominions and the Baltic, while protecting their domestic agriculture and improving political relations with the United States. Canada, whose acquiescence and co–operation were necessitated by the pre–existing network of trade agreements, hoped to win new export markets, to retain old ones, and to achieve international political tranquility through economic means. Although the negotiations began with a mixture of lofty and ignoble motives, in the end the latter predominated. The authors have drawn on archival and statistical materials in all three countries to provide a clear and detailed account of the economic context of the mid–1930s, the process of negotiations, the issues, and the political and economic significance, both then and now, of the final agreements. Their work is a valuable case–study of the problems that face any country that tries to negotiate freer trade. It is therefore full of contemporary resonance and relevance, and will be of interest to students of and specialists in modern history (European, British, and North American), international relations, and international economic policy.