The political economy of the new Asia-Pacific bilateralism

The recent proliferation of proposals for preferential trade agreements (PTAs) involving one or more countries from the Western Pacific Rim marks a dramatic departure in these countries’ commercial diplomacy. ¹ Throughout the postwar period, they had previously been strong adherents to multilateralism in trade negotiations. Many of the governments on the Western Pacific Rim believed that their economies had been the principal victims of discriminatory regionalism elsewhere, most notably in Europe. Consequently, beyond the negotiated commitments they undertook in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and its successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO), they had preferred to reduce their trade barriers on a unilateral and non-discriminatory basis. Even those countries that were parties to regional preferential agreements—ASEAN countries through their commitment to complete an ASEAN free trade area, and Australia and New Zealand through their Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement—continued to place primary emphasis on global forums and on unilateral liberalization in their commercial diplomacy.