Outside voices: In a changing trade world, thinking of ‘ecosystems’ and not FTAs

“Forget about free trade agreements,” counsels a former U.S. trade official about the sunset days for the “hard infrastructure” that can (or not) facilitate market access, increasingly giving way to new framework agreements that “focus on the soft infrastructure” rooted in “cooperation, coordination, and perhaps even commonality,” among issues. Hinrich Foundation Senior Research Fellow Stephen Olson, in a new piece published by the Asia-based trade-focused foundation, labels these new directions “trade ecosystems” designed to foster deeper economic integration “not as...