ABSTRACT
Others have had much to say about NAFTA and the FTAA. In this article, rather than the specifics of hemispheric trade, I examine three general aspects of interaction between regional and global trade agreements. The first, and most widely debated, is the extent to which regional trade agreements are undermining the global trading system. The second is changes that would help reassert WTO primacy as the negotiating forum for global commerce. The third concerns constructive steps that regional (and bilateral) trade pacts might take to buttress the global trading system.
