Prices for commodities such as minerals and metals have increased significantly over the past few years. At the same time, there has also been an increase in restrictions on the export of raw materials which has led policy makers and business people to address free trade of raw materials. This...

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) present opportunities for controlling technical barriers to trade (TBTs). Using key principles and provisions of the WTO Agreement on TBT as a yardstick for analysis, this paper examines whether and how eight major regional integration agreements within the...