The volume under review is intended for readers who are proficient in international trade law and, in particular, in the law of the World Trade Organization [WTO]. It includes thirteen essays that require a good conceptual understanding of the subject and shed light on, inter alia, the role of the WTO in international trade (Chapters 2–5), protectionism (Chapter 6), the role of regional trade agreements (Chapters 7–10), the future of the WTO (Chapter 11), the significance of plurilateral trade agreements (Chapter 12), and the feasibility of a multilateral agreement on foreign direct investment (Chapter 13). Importantly, the book presents Asian perspectives on all these issues, with due regard paid to the region’s ever-growing weight in the world economy and international trade.
Contributors are professionals and academics from China (the People’s Republic and Hong Kong), India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore—all economic heavyweights in Asia—but also from Australia (Southeast Asia’s closest neighbour and economic partner) and Switzerland (where the WTO is headquartered), which enables an external professional vision of international economic processes going on in the region.
The added value of the book is best summarized by the editors in their Introduction:
The world trading system has changed fundamentally over the past years with the expansion of production network and supply-chain trade, adoption of new commercial and industrial policies, and the spread of FTA-led regionalism. These developments are likely to stay but the WTO has not adjusted to cope with them …
Asia’s experience of open trade-led development offers many valuable lessons for other regions. These include the importance of pursuing market-friendly trade and industrial policies to develop supply-chain trade, improving surveillance of non-tariff measures, and consolidating FTAs into a single large region-wide FTA … (p. 10)
As the book attempts to combine expert analysis of current developments and challenges—including of structural difficulties facing the WTO—forecasts, and useful reform proposals, it will be of value to academics and practitioners of international trade law within but also outside Asia. Lessons from ASEAN—one of the most dynamic and successful regional trade organizations in history—could arguably be applicable in such populous and resource-rich regions as Latin America and Africa. In particular, both the European Union, currently experiencing a structural crisis, and the emerging Eurasian Economic Union could profit from the creativity and business attitudes of South and Southeast Asian countries. Usefully, contributors’ theoretical propositions are supported by reliable statistical data.
Last, but not least, the book’s technical features make it quite user-friendly: numerous references to normative and institutional sources and a detailed index should help interested readers to further research issues raised in the volume.
