ABSTRACT
One of the motives for launching the Uruguay Round was to ‘defend’ multilateralism from the spread of bilateral and regional responses to trade issues. There were more than a few hints from the United States of America (USA) that the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) and the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative (EAI) were an ‘insurance’ against the failure of the Round to produce the desired results. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) has entered the fray with a recent panel ruling that the Lomé Convention and, by implication, the European Union’s (EU’s) entire structure of non-reciprocal trade agreements, is in conflict with the multilateral system. The EU’s initial response is that it will contest this view vigorously.
