Since the early 1990s there has been a steady and continuing creation of new Regional Trading Agreements (RTAs) in the world economy. By contrast attempts to conclude the Doha Development Round of multilateral negotiations have floundered. There is a growing concern that these discriminatory RTAs may be hindering further multilateral liberalisation.

One response has been a drive to “multilateralise regionalism”. This movement began with a 2006 paper by Richard Baldwin. He proposed to extend the range of countries which may benefit from regional trade liberalisation.