Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyzes trade costs that are inimical to free trade and contends that trade costs have the nature of externality. The book explains how trade facilitation got its name. Trade facilitation is conceptualizes to encapsulate the diverse solutions to the procedural obstacles that produce threshold effects to the flow of goods throughout the supply chains. The book focuses on the necessity of constituting an accord on trade facilitation. Constructivism is instrumental in arguing the point. The book evokes the call of the business community, as represented by the International Chamber of Commerce, for an international accord on trade facilitation. It discusses several past conventions and recommendations pertaining to trade facilitation from the times of the League of Nations to the birth of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).