Does Business Exist?

Free Traders ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 139-162
Author(s):  
Malcolm Fairbrother
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
North American ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Real Possibility ◽  
The Real ◽  
Business Support

Previous chapters argued that the private sector in all three countries was united in support of CUFTA and NAFTA. From some perspectives, this fact is puzzling: different industries have different interests, and some stand to lose out from free trade. How then was such broad-based business support for North American free trade possible? This chapter shows the business support followed from the national negotiators’ providing potential opponents with opportunities to shape the contents of the free trade agreements. The real possibility of winning meaningful concessions gave opponents a reason not to oppose free trade as a whole. But while these concessions served a purpose domestically, they also aggravated conflicts internationally. These conflicts reinforced nationalist understandings of trade that contradicted economists’ views, as discussed in Chapter 6.

scholarly journals Regulatory Coherence and Standardization Mechanisms in the Trans-Pacific Partnership

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 505-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phoenix X. F. Cai
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Current Literature ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Standard Setting ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Real ◽  
International Standard ◽  
New Generation

Abstract This article posits a new taxonomy and framework for assessing regulatory coherence in the new generation of mega-regional, cross-cutting free trade agreements. Using the Trans-Pacific Partnership as the primary example, this article situates the rise of regulatory coherence within the current trade landscape, provides clear definitions of regulatory coherence, and argues that the real engine of regulatory coherence lies in the work of international standard setting organizations. This work has been little examined in the current literature. The article provides a detailed examination of the mechanics by which the Trans-Pacific Partnership promotes regulatory standardization and concludes with some normative implications and calls for future research.

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