Multilateral Trade Liberalisation And The Role Of Trade Diplomacy In The 1990s

This paper investigates the relationship between the growing significance of trade diplomacy in multilateral trade negotiations and the changes in the relative bargaining position of the major players, the US and the EC. As the variables of the negotiation equation had become complex in the later GATT trade rounds, middle-power trade diplomacy became a major force in influencing the outcomes of negotiations. It is argued that there is an inverse relationship between the US leadership and the increasing role of trade diplomacy in GATT multilateral trade negotiations.