This event will discuss the economic implications of free trade agreements in Asia.

Jagdish Bhagwati, one of America’s leading economic and political analysts of international trade policy, has just completed a new book, Termites in the Trading System: How Preferential Agreements Undermine Free Trade (Oxford University Press/Council on Foreign Relations, June 2008). The theme and conclusions of Bhagwati’s study will be discussed at...

The president has submitted three free trade agreements to Congress. But four years of tortuous domestic debate over the FTAs has led the world to doubt U.S. commitment to opening markets.

The U.S. is more active on trade policy than it has been in years.  President Obama is meeting with Canada and Mexico about new agreements, Congress will hold hearings on changing decades-old trade law, and the federal government will more broadly be bringing several cases before the WTO.

Yet, in constructing...

President Obama indicated his seriousness about exports when he committed to double them by 2015, but he has given conflicting signals about his commitment to trade liberalization. While the administration has praised the passage of the FTAs with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea, the president waited far too long to submit the legislation to Congress.

Calls for broader trade progress have been bipartisan, yet the Obama administration continues to delay free trade agreements.