International trade continues to expand robustly in East Asia and elsewhere, but global trade negotiations have collapsed and globalization is widely criticized. In this book, the participants of the thirtieth Pacific Trade and Development Conference--including the then-Director General of the World Trade Organization, and leading government officials, academics and executives from a dozen major Pacific Rim economies--debate whether global negotiations have ended once and for all, or are suffering temporarily from 'globalization fatigue;' whether East Asia's new regional partnerships will advance or undermine the global trading system; and whether the region's trade tensions with the United States will intensify or subside. They provide new empirical evidence on how trade affects the distribution of income, the location of pollution-intensive industries, the causes of 'outsourcing, ' the structure of the intellectual property regime, and international security. And they probe the implications of adjustment to globalization: how can countries reap the benefits of trade while controlling the risks faced by the poor and, perhaps more importantly, the politically strong? Challenges to the Global Trading System is an invaluable resource for students and scholars of Asia-Pacific studies, international relations and development studies, as well as those with a more general interest in Asian studies.

The structure and policy architecture of the world economy, as it emerges from the historic challenges now underway, will be affected by the dramatic rise of Asian economies and deepening connections among them. This important book examines the rapid transformation of the Asian economy, the challenges it faces, emerging regional solutions, and how Asia can play a more constructive role in the global economy.Asia is becoming not just the world?s factory, but also its leading creditor, and one of its key sources of dynamism and stability. Key questions are identified and addressed in three areas: Asia?s growth and productivity, financial stability, and regional economic integration. In each of these areas, the contributing authors evaluate current trends and the forces shaping the future. They consider whether the region?s progress is sustainable and what it will take to make it so. How is Asia reshaping its economy in response to the changing global landscape? More urgently, how can Asia weather the severe financial and economic storm originating from the global credit crisis? How will it extend its gains to people left behind? And how can it contribute to better governance and greater prosperity in the world economy? This book covers new ground by connecting theory, assembling detailed evidence on trends and challenges, and offering forward-looking policy prescriptions.This timely book will appeal to Asian economic policy-makers as well as postgraduate students interested in Asian economies, international economics and regional integration. Staff of international and regional organizations interested in Asian economies will also find this book invaluable.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is strategically significant because of its size, dynamism, and role in the Asian economic and security architectures. This paper examines how ASEAN seeks to strengthen these assets through "centrality" in intraregional and external policy decisions. It recommends a two-speed approach toward centrality in order to maximize regional incomes and benefit all member economies: first, selective engagement by ASEAN members in productive external partnerships and, second, vigorous policies to share gains across the region. This strategy has solid underpinnings in the Kemp-Wan theorem on trade agreements. It would warrant, for example, a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement with incomplete ASEAN membership, complemented with policies to extend gains across the region. The United States could support this framework by pursuing deep relations with some ASEAN members, while broadly assisting the region's development.

The recovery of the Asia-Pacific region from the global economic crisis of 2008-2009 is underway but incomplete. Risks range from slow growth and persistent unemployment to re-emerging international imbalances and financial volatility. While early policy responses to the crisis were successful in avoiding a larger calamity, new policy strategies are now needed to resolve imbalances among the United States, China, and other economies, and to build robust demand in the medium term. This report, drafted by an international team of experts for the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECe, provides a policy framework for completing the recovery and achieving sustained growth beyond it. The report identifies priorities for replacing stimulus programmes with structural reforms, and for launching new growth engines to drive investment and employment throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Led by Professor Peter Petri (Brandeis University/East-West Center), the team included eminent scholars from China, Japan, the United States and other countries. The report presents a regional strategy as well as separate, detailed analyses of the challenges facing China, Advanced Asia, Southeast Asia, North America, and South America. It concludes that inclusive, balanced, sustained growth in the region is feasible, but will require structural reforms that change economic relationships within economies and among them, and substantial international cooperation in implementing coherent national policies.

International trade continues to expand robustly in East Asia and elsewhere, but global trade negotiations have collapsed and globalization is widely criticized.

In this book, the participants of the thirtieth Pacific Trade and Development Conference-including the then-Director General of the World Trade Organization, and leading government officials, academics and executives from a dozen major Pacific Rim economies-debate whether global negotiations have ended once and for all, or are suffering temporarily from 'globalization fatigue;' whether East Asia's new regional partnerships will advance or undermine the global trading system; and whether the region's trade tensions with the United States will intensify or subside. They provide new empirical evidence on how trade affects the distribution of income, the location of pollution-intensive industries, the causes of 'outsourcing, ' the structure of the intellectual property regime, and international security. And they probe the implications of adjustment to globalization: how can countries reap the benefits of trade while controlling the risks faced by the poor and, perhaps more importantly, the politically strong?

Challenges to the Global Trading System is an invaluable resource for students and scholars of Asia-Pacific studies, international relations and development studies, as well as those with a more general interest in Asian studies.