Abstract
The nearly two decades since the Uruguay Round was concluded in 1993 represent the longest stretch of time without a new global
trade agreement under the GATT/WTO system. Regional and bilateral trade agreements are now filling this vacuum. In the AsiaPacific region, two dynamic, high profile initiatives have emerged: an Asian track of negotiations centered on ASEAN, and a transPacific track centered on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, which also includes the United States and other
economies from the Americas.
Where will these tracks lead? Are they pathways to a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP), as APEC Leaders hope? Are they the seeds of tense economic rivalry between China and the United States, as some pundits fear? How will they affect ASEAN’s own integration efforts and its “centrality” in regional cooperation? The answers matter; the Asia-Pacific region is the world’s largest trading
zone and its most promising driver of long-term economic growth.