Competition and Trade: The Rise of Competition Law in Trade Agreements and Its Implications for the World Trading System

Since the failure of the Havana Charter in 1950, it has not been possible to agree upon a binding competition law at the global level. However, following the fiasco of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Cancún in 2003, the number of bilateral and regional trade agreements containing competition law chapters, or at least competition-related rules, has increased noteworthy. This reflects that trade and competition are closely intertwined. In an ever more integrated, globalized, and digitized economy, the competition law framework needs to be internationalized. If a binding competition law is not possible at the global level, it is only logical that bilateral and regional trade agreements fill the gap. This article questions the extent to which these agreements contribute to the convergence of competition law. In this context, the development in Northeast Asia seems promising and may provide a guidepost for establishing international standards of competition law cooperation and enforcement. Presented here is the idea of localized harmonization, which takes advantage of closer affinity between bilateral and regional partners. With a sufficient degree of convergence, it is not excluded that efforts towards a multilateral competition agreement could be relaunched one day. competition law, world trade law, WTO, free trade agreement, regional trade agreement, bilateral cooperation, convergence, localized harmonization, Asian competition law, digital economy