This paper addresses the question of whether the difficult issues associated with services trade and investment liberalisation are more likely to be tackled effectively in the bilateral or the multilateral context. It provides a first examination of the services trade and investment outcomes in...

There has been a proliferation of proposals for bilateral free trade areas (FTAs) in East Asia in recent times. These initiatives fly in the face of the long-standing support of key players in the region such as Japan for the MFN-based non-discriminatory trading system and the commitment to...