The chapter analyses how trade agreements balance liberalisation of digital trade with cybersecurity concerns. The chapter identifies the strengths, weaknesses, and ambiguities facing digital trade regulation in these agreements. As a way to address the tension between international trade law and cybersecurity, it examines security exception clauses in different trade agreements. It also analyses the efforts found in recent regional trade agreements to direct state parties to have regard to international standards concerning cybersecurity issues. It concludes that harmonisation of such standards would suggest the possibility of a greater coherence in cybersecurity governance.

With gender and trade now linked on the international agenda, gender approaches in regional trade agreements (RTAs) could have significant implications for women entrepreneurs and traders around the world. Building on the foundation of African Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) includes gender as an express priority alongside sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development. Yet this is only a starting point. A gender-focused AfCFTA protocol is under negotiation, representing a significant opportunity to reassess RTA provisions on gender and consider more tailored, contextual approaches that could benefit women on the African continent and around the world. This chapter will present a comparative assessment of approaches for evaluating and categorizing gender and trade approaches in RTAs. These include a focus on gender responsiveness and incorporation of international and domestic legal design options for ‘inclusive law and regulation’ in order to use RTAs to address more holistically the concrete challenges facing women. The chapter also includes a contextual analysis of how trade rules could more actively support women’s work, reduce procedural hurdles in the market, enhance access to finance and digital inclusion, and promote food security under the AfCFTA and future RTAs.

Public concerns about the impacts of globalization and in particular the perception that benefits of trade have not been shared widely make it harder to continue to advocate for more and open trade at the multilateral level or in some cases at the bilateral level. The Government of Canada, therefore, has committed to making trade work for all, including women. Understanding the effects of trade on people in Canada is important. Global Affairs Canada (GAC) is undertaking a new analytical approach based on four complementary elements to help craft a coherent gender responsive and inclusive trade policy for Canada: (1) Research and analysis of the participation in trade of women-owned businesses in Canada; (2) Ex ante economic impact analysis using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and adding a labour market module; (3) Ex post quantitative assessment of free trade agreements (FTAs); and (4) Comprehensive dynamic gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) of a trade negotiation. The purpose of this chapter is to examine what Canada has been doing on these four elements and show how they are helping Canada craft a gender-responsive and inclusive trade policy so that others can determine whether this approach might be useful for application in their own countries.

The Caribbean women’s rights agenda has been framed by the broader agenda of international platforms for action ‘adapted to national and regional priorities’. Yet the Caribbean feminist agenda is hardly present in international trade discussions and negotiations. The chapter will examine the development of gender equality/feminism in the Caribbean and its intersections with trade; highlight and examine the current feminist agenda in the Caribbean; and ultimately consider whether and if so how that agenda manifests itself in domestic and regional policy and practice in the Caribbean. It will do so against the backdrop of broader efforts internationally to mainstream gender and will make recommendations about how the Caribbean should approach trade and gender in the future.

In recent years, more and more countries have included different kinds of gender considerations in their trade agreements. Yet many countries have still not signed their very first agreement with a gender equality-related provision. Though most of the agreements negotiated by countries in the Asia-Pacific region have not explicitly accommodated gender concerns, a limited number of trade agreements signed by countries in the region have presented a distinct approach: the nature of provisions, drafting style, location in the agreements, and topic coverage of such provisions contrast with the gender-mainstreaming approach employed by the Americas or other regions. This chapter provides a comprehensive account and assessment of gender-related provisions included in the existing trade agreements negotiated by countries in the Asia-Pacific, explains the extent to which gender concerns are mainstreamed in these agreements, and summarizes the factors that impede such mainstreaming efforts in the region.

This chapter considers the main forms of investment treaties, exploring some leading examples such as the Energy Charter Treaty, the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement and the Comprehensive Trans-Pacific Partnership. It also discusses the role of some global organizations in facilitating international investment, notably the World Trade Organization and the World Bank.

Building on the observations in chapter 8, this chapter focuses on six regional trade agreements (RTAs) that contain extensive e-commerce chapters. This chapter first compares the definitions included in the e-commerce chapters of the selected RTAs, together with their approach to the principle of technological neutrality and ‘new services’. The chapter subsequently compares the architectural features and scope of the selected RTAs. Finally, the chapter analyses the consistency of the barriers to digital services trade as identified in chapter 3 with the obligations that parties have committed to in these RTAs. For each of these barriers and for each of the selected RTAs, the relevant obligations are identified and applied, taking account of whether they go further than what the parties agreed to at the WTO. The chapter thereby provides the reader with insights on what extensive e-commerce RTAs contribute to WTO Members’ obligations and commitments at the multilateral level.

This chapter maps the evolution of e-commerce-related provisions in regional trade agreements (RTAs). In order to allow for exhaustive mapping, this chapter uses the technique of term-frequency analysis, which identifies specified e-commerce-related terms in a corpus of 105 RTAs with e-commerce provisions. The chapter first provides general observations on e-commerce RTAs and a historical perspective on the inclusion of e-commerce provisions in RTAs. Subsequently, different groups of e-commerce provisions are identified, related to scope, trade facilitation and cooperation, specific barriers to digital trade, data flows and policy objectives. For each of these groups, their inclusion in the 105 RTAs is mapped. Finally, the chapter provides insights into the presence of e-commerce provisions in RTAs based on the parties’ geographical location and income level. This provides the reader with a clear overview of the extensiveness of the e-commerce provisions in different RTAs, which countries have concluded most e-commerce RTAs and the evolution of different types of e-commerce provisions over time.

This chapter provides an introduction to preferential trade agreements or regional trade agreements. It considers trade creation and trade diversion within a supply and demand framework of PTAs. It then summarizes the examples of the European Union, NAFTA, Mercosur, ASEAN and its AFTA, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Although regional trade agreements were permitted under GATT s Article XXIV, such agreements contradicted GATT rules, were symptomatic of a loss of faith in liberal trade, and created rival trade blocs. This chapter examines the proliferation of regional trade agreements, including the expansion of the EEC, EFTA, the Yaound greement, and CUSFTA, and their impact on GATT. While many scholars have identified American participation in regional trade agreements in the 1980s as the moment when regional trade became a serious challenge to GATT, this chapter argues that the regional challenge began in the 1960s with agreements among smaller countries. GATT working parties reviewed all regional trade agreements, but almost never gave a verdict on whether or not they complied with Article XXIV. In effect, members denied that GATT had authority over regional trade agreements, confirming their commitment to national economic interests first and foremost. But the story is not one of complete defeat for GATT. By submitting agreements to GATT, members upheld the ideal of multilateralism and entrenched the practice and legitimacy of international accountability.

As a powerful member of GATT, the EEC evoked fear and criticism. The EEC, especially France, in turn criticized GATT for ill-serving the interest of Europe and being a tool of the USA. This chapter examines the GATTEEC collision. The EEC tried to limit GATT s authority and proposed regional organizations such as the OECD as alternatives. However, it also supported trade liberalization, in particular during the Kennedy round of GATT talks (1964–1967). The GATT secretariat and many members tried to make the EEC observe GATT norms, rules, and practices, challenging the EEC s support for regional trade agreements and protectionist and discriminatory trade practices. This chapter argues that the EEC was both a constructive and an obstructive force in GATT. It strengthened and threatened the authority of GATT and it promoted and impeded trade liberalization. In its inconsistent support for GATT and liberal trade, the EEC was no different from other members. Because the USA supported European integration, other members stepped up to defend GATT rules and practices, revealing both the need and the opportunities for smaller countries to assume leadership positions.

The chapter explains the historic background of preferential trade, both in the area of goods and services. It also explains the key rules in different WTO agreements as well as their monitoring mechanisms.

The chapter concludes by summarizing the key findings of the book and reminds of the relevance of the topic and the conclusions in the international trading environment of today.