Limits to Free Trade

This book explores the growing list of non-tariff trade barriers raised by the US, EU and Japan and assesses the prospects for significant trade liberalization. The author examines the liability of global free trade through a review of the complaints these three countries raised about each other over a five-year period. He concludes that free trade may be increasingly hampered as barriers are created more rapidly than can be resolved, and that the prospects for significantly strengthening safeguards are limited. These issues are analyzed in the contexts of the major WTO trade agreements and the political economy of decision-making in the US, EU and Japan. The author concludes that the growing problems are endemic to the system and are not amenable to easy remedy. He tackles topics including international agreements, the trade policy processes in the three countries, issues concerning trade practices, import trade barriers in the EU, and prospects for reform. Scholars, students and practitioners in business economics, international business, and international economics will find much of interest in this book.