To fuse, Not to Fuse, or Simply Confuse? Assessing the Case for Normative Convergence Between Goods and Services Trade Law

Goods and services were separated (politically) at birth when the Uruguay Round of multilateral negotiations was launched. The goods and services divide reflected in today’s structure of global trade governance has increasingly come into question in a world of cross-border production networks. This begs the question of the desirability and political economy feasibility of fusing the law of goods and services trade into one undifferentiated whole. This paper asks whether the current architectures of multilateral and preferential trade governance are compatible with a world of trade in tasks; whether existing rules offer globally active firms a coherent structure for doing business in a predictable environment; whether it is feasible to redesign the structure and content of existing trade rules to align them to the reality of production fragmentation; and what steps can be envisaged to better align policy with market realities if restructuring prospects appear unfavorable. The paper argues that fusing trade disciplines for goods and services is neither needed nor feasible and may actually deflect attention from a number of worthwhile policy initiatives where more realistic (if never easily secured) prospects of generic rule-making may well exist.