From Here to Free Trade in Manufactures: Why and How

This book provides a detailed analysis and strong endorsement of a multilateral free trade agreement for the manufacturing sector as a centerpiece of the WTO Doha negotiations, along the lines proposed by the United States.The author's conclusion is that such an agreement is economically sound but will require greater political will than is currently evident to succeed. Such an agreement would consolidate the proliferating network of bilateral and regional free trade agreements within a multilateral framework and reap an estimated $2 trillion per year increase in global GDP. About half of these economic gains will accrue to industrialized countries and the other half mostly to the ?newly industrialized? countries. The large gains result from the new order of trade relations which has developed in the last two decades, and which is centered on the manufacturing sector as the ?engine for growth? for the U.S. and global economies. This engine has been driven by a broadly based surge in applied new technologies and the rapid growth in manufactures trade and related foreign direct investment with embedded new technologies. The ?dynamic gains? resulting from free trade in manufactures would increase economic growth significantly for all participants.