Regional trade agreements and the neo-colonialism of the United States of America and the European Union: a review of the principle of competitive imperialism

The recent proliferation of Regional Trade agreements (RTAs) in the last two decades raises questions about the paradigm shift from the multilateral trading system of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to bilateral and regional preferential trade arrangements. Even more questionable is the fact that the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU), among the other trading powers of the world, are leading the use of RTAs to the detriment and neglect of non-discriminatory trade liberalisation. It has been suggested that neo-colonialism may be the motivation for the use of RTAs by the USA and the EU as their international trade policy of choice within a broader competitive process for imperial domination of their preferential trading partners. This article reviews this suggestion in order to propose an alternative explanation for the RTA practices of the USA and the EU.