Is the international trading system fragmenting? The dilemma for Australian trade policy

The post-World War II international trade policy framework is being challenged by a proliferation of bilateral and regional trading arrangements. Australia faces a choice over whether to join this preferential trade bandwagon and risk collateral damage to the multilateral trading system, or to go no further down the preferential trade road but risk being “left behind” in the event that the rush to PTAs continues, leaving the multilateral system increasingly sidelined.Mark Thirlwell