The Conflict Between Regional Trade Agreement And Multilateral Trade System And Coordination Study

Since the1990s, Regional Trade Agreement (RTA) has developed quite rapidly.At the meam time, WTO multilateral trade system makes no progress.The future ofDoha negotiations is dim. It is no wander that people turn to RTA for help. WhetherRTA is a constraint or a support for WTO has been the concern of scholars for manyyears. This paper focus on the conflict between the RTA and WTO, and tried to figureout where these conflicts come from. Then we should know how toavoid conflict and find a coordinate method. This paper startes from RTA ‘s concept,motivating factor and trends. Then it introduces the WTO’s provisions about RTA.Base on this information, the paper analyzes the impact of the RTA to the WTOmultilateral trading system. it is suggested that RTA is a double-edged sword. Itpromotes the free trade in the nationwide and also hinders the WTO’smultilateral trading system such as infringing the jurisdiction of the WTO andchallengeing the MFN principle. Obviously RTA is not conducive to raising theoverall welfare. The paper claimed that If we wanted to avoid the adverse effectsof RTA,we should make RTA compatible with WTO. It required thejoint efforts of both RTA members and WTO members. In terms of WTO, it isnecessary to amend provisions that relate to RTA. WTO could establish a regulatoryprocedures so that WTO can keep an eye on RTA. For the RTA, to improve theopenness and transparency is a good idea. Finally, this paper provides an overview ofChina’s development of the RTA. The paper points out that China should develop RTAin compliance with the WTO principles.