Further trade liberalisation would encourage firms to export by offering certainty of continued market access.
Chambers of commerce on both sides of the border are pushing hard for trade liberalisation.
The stalling of multilateral trade liberalisation will doubtless give a new impetus to regional and bilateral efforts.
But attempts at greater trade liberalisation are hampered by disagreements about the nature of any future trade deal.
It was trade liberalisation, argues Bibek Debroy of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, that got exports going.
Mr Chirac, in turn, resisted the temptation to broadcast his grievances about the effects of proposed trade liberalisation on French farmers.
So India's ministers troop off to Seattle to discuss further trade liberalisation.
APEC, and to global trade liberalisation under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation, but offered no initiatives to bring either one about.
ECONOMIST: Forget economics. APEC countries are focused on security
The imperative has been sharpened by what Singapore sees as the frustratingly slow pace of trade liberalisation internationally despite the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Neither George Bush, nor Bill Clinton before him, has used the bully pulpit effectively to make the case for trade liberalisation to ordinary Americans.
Since then, trade liberalisation has reduced tariffs on industrial products dramatically, spurring export growth and helping countries like Japan and Korea become industrial giants.
EU. Not that he, for all his opposition to trade liberalisation when industry minister from 1991 to 1993, would declare himself against markets as such.
America's lengthy recession also diminished the appeal of further trade liberalisation.
The agreement contains a human rights clause, meaning that any abuse of human rights by Peru and Colombia could lead to the trade liberalisation being invalidated.
BBC: EU trade agreement with Peru and Colombia backed by MEPs
This recognises the importance of such regional trade initiatives and their potential to promote further trade liberalisation, while strengthening the primacy of the multilateral trading system.
To mitigate the association agreement, the EU has put forward so-called "banana accompanying measures", which give financial support to regions that may be affected by new trade liberalisation rules.
To mitigate the trade agreement, the EU has put forward so-called "banana accompanying measures", which give financial support to regions that may be affected by new trade liberalisation rules.
BBC: EU trade agreement with Peru and Colombia backed by MEPs
But the potato's unusual history (see article) means it is well worth celebrating by readers of The Economist because the potato is intertwined with economic development, trade liberalisation and globalisation.
Mr Clinton's economic team, led by Bob Rubin and Larry Summers at Treasury, is by and large supportive of trade liberalisation, whereas the labour-union base of the Democratic Party is hostile.
"Those countries who, like Singapore, are committed to speedy trade liberalisation, fear that the WTO with its growing membership is becoming too unwieldy, " said Melina Nathan, a senior analyst at Singapore's Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies.
The Americans must weigh the merits of rejecting a pact that lacks a better Malaysian offer against the costs most notably, the compounding of suspicions that America, once a forceful advocate for trade liberalisation, is no longer interested in it.
The summit opened on the same day as the Millennium Round of talks organised by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) began in Seattle, US. The WTO is expected to agree a new round of global trade liberalisation talks in several economic sectors, including that of the internet.
It has started talking to Japan about a free-trade agreement, and diplomats say there is a chance that the limited trade-liberalisation pacts struck with America could develop into a full-blown free-trade deal.
Trade-liberalisation rounds are arcane affairs about which free-traders are often thought to cry wolf.
WTO's 134 member countries are due to attend the Seattle meeting, and to launch a new round of trade-liberalisation talks.
While most goods are now crossing Europe's national borders with little or no hindrance, the liberalisation of trade in services has been patchy at best.
The Europeans, ever solicitous of their inefficient farmers, offered less liberalisation of agricultural trade than Mercosur hoped for.
If America refuses, the Europeans can blame America for scuppering the new round and insist that within a narrow agenda there is no room for the trade-offs needed for agricultural liberalisation.
Claims that new trade talks should await the realisation of past liberalisation commitments are not supported by fact.
应用推荐