Research On The Evolution Of Regional Trade Agreements

Regional trade agreements are the basic legal documents for the international community to orderly promote the economic and trade cooperation in the region, and they are also the legal carriers of the regional economic integration, which directly determine the process and quality of regional economic integration. At present, with the development of the WTO multilateral trade system being in the dilemma and with the emergence of new pattern of international trade, to strengthen regional economic cooperation and participate in the implementation of regional trade agreements become the only choice for most countries to solve problems. On the one hand, new regional trade agreements, which are represented by TPP, have emerged in endlessly, and have constantly broken the rules and restrictions of the multilateral trading system. These agreements are either overlapping or conflicting which lead to a large amount of cross between the members as well as the working space, time and the objects. Besides, there is lack of unified and effective international supervision. On the other hand, the problems in the multilateral trade system have resulted in the regional trade agreements in the "out of control" state----unable to supervise, and the new international trade rules are not yet perfect. When law is unable to adapt to the pace of economic development, it is bound to hinder the development of the economy. The "insufficient system" of the international community for standardizing the regional economic cooperation and regional trade agreements lead to the "disorder" and "confusion" of the regional cooperation development, and ultimately hinder the development of global economic integration.Taking the regional trade agreement and its development as the research objects, using historical analysis, empirical analysis and comparative research method, taking the entry into force of G ATT 1947 and the establishment of WTO as the main time node, this paper discusses the evolution and characteristics of regional trade agreements in the germination period, the initial development period and the full development period. Besides, the paper, based on the development of international law in the same period, analyzes the typical samples, the evolution and characteristics of regional trade agreements (regional preferential trade arrangement, etc.); with the new development of international law and multilateral trade system, in view of the dilemma of "Spaghetti bowl phenomenon" of regional trade agreements, the paper puts forward the suggestion of the coordinated development of regional trade agreements and multilateral trade system. Finally, on the basis of comprehensive analysis of the history and current situation of China’s participation in the implementation of regional trade agreements, the paper proposes suggestions on further accelerating the "Free Trade Zone Strategy" and "One Belt and One Road" strategy in our country, making full use of the multilateral trading system, actively striving for the right to say in the multilateral trade, integrating existing mechanisms, expanding the level of cooperation and scope and building a global network of regional trade agreements in China.This paper mainly includes eight parts as follows:Chapter 1 is the introduction part, which mainly introduces the background and significance of this thesis, the research status at home and abroad and the research methods, in order to explain the statutory basis and research value.Chapter 2 is the basic theory of the regional trade agreements, which mainly based on the international law, studies the concept, nature, characteristics and related concepts, making basic theory foundation for the article. The innovation of this chapter is proposing the concept of "regional trade agreement" based on the international law, committed to solve the fuzzy and uncertainty of existing related concepts, to provide the basic legal basis for theoretical research and empirical analysis, which is also an important theoretical basis of this thesis.Chapter 3 is about the evolution and characteristics of regional trade agreements in the embryonic stage. This chapter mainly analyzes the evolution and characteristics of Regional Trade Preference Arrangement of the international community before the entry into force of the GATT1947 in 1948. There are two innovations in this chapter: The jus gentlum in Rome law plays an important role in the regional economic and trade cooperation, and the formation, mode selection and content of regional trade agreements; the traditional international law has clear regional characteristics, and the contents of free trade in the bilateral treaties concluded in this period have important implications for regional trade agreements.Chapter 4 is the evolution and characteristics of regional trade agreements in GATT period. This chapter, in the setting of modern international law, on the theoretical basis of legal norms of regional trade agreement system such as Article I, Article XXIV of GATT, the fourth part "Trade and Development" and the "licensing terms" in 1979, analyzes the evolution and characteristic of typical regional trade agreements including the EU and North America free trade agreements, has concluded the evolution characteristics that the opening subjectivity and developing content of the regional trade agreements have been closely integrated, the cooperation is continuously upgrading, and the cooperation mechanism has gradually improved.Chapter 5 is the evolution and characteristics of regional trade agreement in WTO period. This chapter, setting in the existence of the new development of international law, analyzes the new standard of the multilateral trade system to the regional trade agreement system:the understanding of Article XXIV of GATT, Article 5 of GATS, the establishment of supervision mechanism and transparency mechanism, etc.. This chapter studies the typical regional trade agreements, such as TPP, RCEP and TIPP, summarizes the evolution and characteristics of regional trade agreement system in this stage:comprehension in main body, comprehension in content, diversification in models and competition in mechanism of the regional trade agreements in this period, and points out the challenges of the development of regional trade agreement system to the multilateral trade system.Chapter 6 is the development dilemma and coordinated development of regional trade agreement. This chapter, setting in the new pattern of WTO multilateral trade system and international trade, on the theoretical basis of the new development of modern international law responding to "reconstruction of the new international economic order", analyzes the development dilemma of regional trade agreements. It is suggested that only by adhering to the multilateral trading system as the leading position, and the coordinated development of mutual competition and mutual complement of the multilateral trading system and regional trade agreements, we should find a way to cracking the dilemma of "Spaghetti bowl effect" of the regional trade agreement.Chapter 7 is about the suggestions for China to participate in regional trade agreements. This chapter, on the basis of a comprehensive review of the process and characteristics of China’s regional economic integration, proposes suggestions on China’s participation in the implementation of regional trade agreements:further accelerate the implementation of the free trade zone strategy and "one belt and one road" strategy from the strategic level; continue to use WTO multilateral trade system from the angle of system construction, and build a regional trade agreement system of Chinese characteristics; propose to expand the scope of the agreement, to enhance the breadth and depth from an operational point of view; establish the market opening compensation mechanism under the framework of regional trade agreements.Conclusion part:regional trade agreements have different evolution characteristics in different periods, and have experienced the process from germination to the establishing and perfecting of the legal norm. It is an indispensable part of the international economic and trade cooperation. The "parallel development" of regional trade agreements and the multilateral trading system have become the historical facts, and will continue to develop. The WTO multilateral trading system cannot be abandoned, and it is necessary to continue to promote the multilateral trading system toward the goal; at the same time we also need to strengthen the leading role of international law norms to the regional trade agreement system, strengthen the regulation and coordination of multilateral trade system, ensure that the targets of the regional economic cooperation and the global economic integration are consistent。...