The EU, the WTO, and the NAFTA: Towards a Common Law of International Trade

Today’s international relations are dominated by economic and trade issues. The emergence of regional organizations, such as the EU and the North American Free Trade Area, are a reflection of a will to cooperate but also of a will to gain advantage in the global market-place. The WTO has emerged as the equivalent of the United Nations Charter for the world trading system. How do these different regional and international systems operate side by side? What are the legal and political consequences of their coexistence? The contributions to this book seek to both illuminate the phenomenon of multiple trading regimes and analyse their promises and dangers.-- Cain and Abel--convergence and divergence in international trade law / J.H.H. Weiler -- EC external commercial policy after Amsterdam: authority and interpretation within interconnected legal orders / Marise Cremona -- Adjudicative legitimacy and treaty interpretation in international trade law: the early years of WTO jurisprudence / Robert Howse -- The European Court of Justice and the WTO: problems and challenges / Jacques H.H. Bourgeois -- On kith and kine (and crustaceans): trade and environment in the EU and WTO / Joanne Scott -- The North American integration regime and its implications for the world trading system / Frederick M. Abbott -- Epilogue: towards a common law of international trade / J.H.H. Weile