Templates for trade: change, persistence and path dependence in U.S. and EU preferential trade agreements

Abstract: Over the last two decades, Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) proliferated through the international trading system. PTAs created a web of rules paralleling and extending the system of the World Trade Organization (WTO). PTAs are an increasingly dominant feature of the international trading system, adding to a steadily increasing complexity. Their content is rarely studied systematically across agreements, and the mechanisms leading to their genesis are little understood. It is typically assumed that actors like the European Union (EU) and the United States (U. S.) work off a template when negotiating PTAs. Some argue that this allows them, amongst others, to impose a regulatory regime. This working paper attempts to put this claim to the test. Using diffusion theory as framework, it analyzes PTAs signed by the EU, the U. S. and their regional trading partners. Understanding the use of templates will help negotiating parties to assess the margin of maneuver when negotiating PTAs

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource, 36 S.
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed)

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: KFG Working Paper Series ; Bd. 51

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Handel, Kommunikation, Verkehr

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2013
• Creator: Arbia, Ali
• Contributor: Freie Universität Berlin, FB Politik- und Sozialwissenschaften, Otto-Suhr-Institut für Politikwissenschaft Kolleg-Forschergruppe "The Transformative Power of Europe"

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-373271
• Rights: Open Access unbekannt; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:34 AM CEST