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This book fills an important gap in the trade literature by offering a comprehensive cross-regional comparison of approaches to preferential market opening and rule-making in the area of trade in services. Chronicling the spectacular recent rise of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) in services and with contributions from some of the world's leading experts, the book examines the forces shaping the demand for preferences in services trade. It asks whether and how preferential advances differ from, go further than, and might ultimately inform the development of multilateral disciplines on services under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).

The book's core focus is on comparative scholarship, directing attention to the substantive features of services PTAs around the globe and exploring the iterative nature of rule-making and market opening in a still nascent field of trade diplomacy. It advances a number of ideas on how to multilateralize PTA advances in services and takes stock of the likely impact on the WTO system of ongoing attempts at crafting a plurilateral agreement on trade in services.

Trade negotiators and policy officials working in the field of trade and investment in services as well as academics in the fields of law, economics and international political economy will find much of use in this authoritative study.

Contributors: S. Abeysinghe, M. Bosworth, R. Chanda, A. Mattoo, M. Robert, M. Roy, P. Sauve, S. Stephenson, I. Streho, R. Trewin, N. Ward