Preferential Trade Agreements & The Doha Round

The U.S. is currently negotiating several preferential trade agreements (PTAs), including the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the EU-U.S. bilateral free trade area. The U.S. administration is also advocating an end to the WTO’s Doha Round through a formal settled agreement.

For your essay include a thesis, consider one the proposed PTAs listed above. Would your chosen PTA further the goals of the Doha Round. In other words, will this PTA act as a building block or a stumbling block to a larger WTO agreement? In your essay, briefly introduce the basic concepts behind your chosen PTA and consider the possible implications of trade creation or trade diversion. After considering the effects of the PTA on the participants, the global trading system and the Doha Round, do you think the U.S. should enter into this agreement?

Choose the following proposed PTAs for your essay:
– Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21568717-regional-deals-are-only-game-town-supporters-free-trade-are-they-any

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2012/el2012-01.html