The world economy since World War II has become much more integrated. Following
eight successive multilateral rounds of negotiations under the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), international trade today is substantially unimpeded by
commercial barriers relative to the dismal experience of the 1930s. However, high tariffs
and other barriers to trade and investment still remain in place, especially for developing
countries and particular sectors, including agriculture, in developed countries. One
approach for moving forward with trade liberalization has been to negotiate regional
integration agreements ranging from flexible, mostly trade oriented free trade agreements
(FTA) to deeper partnerships and even economic union as in the EU. All of these
agreements are sanctioned and proscribed as legitimate exceptions within the multilateral
framework by GATT Article XXIV, GATS Article V, and, for the developing countries
including Jordan, the Enabling Claus of the 1979 Agreement.