In this chapter, the authors examine the nature of the exception for regional trade agreements (RTAs) under Article XXIV:5 of GATT 1994. This exception, which aims to maximize the internal trade-liberalizing effects of an RTA while minimizing its external trade-restricting effects, applies...

The proliferation of regional trade agreements (“RTAs”) behoves all WTO members to assess the extent to which RTAs depart from fundamental principles in the WTO such as the most-favoured-nation (“MFN”) treatment in the GATT and in particular, the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to...

A number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) include investment protection provisions that may limit a country’s ability to change tax measures. This limitation could raise concerns for States as regards the recently agreed global minimum tax under the Global Anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) Rules,...