Only 20 RTAs involving at least one member from the Asia-Pacific region were in force in 1995. By May 2011, this number had grown to 122. Furthermore, the contribution of Asia and the Pacific to the global trend towards regionalism has also become dominant; since 2005, the region has contributed...

At the start of the global economic crisis in 2008/2009, there was a real fear that the sharp collapse in exports and production in many countries would lead to a repeat of the damaging trade wars in the 1930s. Fortunately, such a trade war, using tariffs as the principal protectionist tool, did...