ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the exceptions whose objective has been to liberalize trade. The most important has been the comprehensive free trade agreement negotiated with Canada, this country’s largest single trading partner. The most obvious direct achievement of the successive rounds of multilateral trade negotiations has been the reduction of tariffs. Exceptions to the tradition of multilateralism and nondiscrimination have taken the form of bilateral arrangements to restrict foreign access to the United States (US) market for certain products, such as steel. The success of the Uruguay Round is of the greatest importance to the US This country’s interests require that its energies and resources be devoted to achieving success there and not diluted by the pursuit of alternative trade arrangements. Multilateral trade liberalization is made dif-ficult and slow by two problems at the root of much of the US frustration that is propelling an interest in alternative trade arrangements: the free rider and the convoy.
