ABSTRACT
Interest in regionalism increased in the 1980s as the prospect for a successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round (UR) of multilateral trade negotiations seemed uncertain. Developing countries may gain higher benefits from unilaterally liberalizing all trade rather than by regionally integrating, that is, by preferentially liberalizing some of their trade. The trade among countries of the British Commonwealth and Empire took place on a preferential basis under the system of commonwealth preferences long before the founding of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. There are few analytical contributions on the issue of the process of trade liberalization. Free Trade Agreements are at least as hard to negotiate as multilateral trade treaties like the UR. The persistence of free trade arrangements despite the success of the World Trade Organization must then be traced at least partly to an awareness of that reality.
