Boeing -Bombardier trade dispute: an indication of the growing importance of regional agreements?

“………in the long run, the lack of commitment to multilateral trade that sank the Doha round this week, will also start to corrode the trading system as a whole……. America, the animating spirit behind earlier trade rounds, declared that a bad deal was worse than no deal at all – and meant it…. The underlying rationale of unilateral trade liberalization had been buried and forgotten long ago.” (The Economist, 2006a) The Uruguay and Doha trade rounds of agreements, do not only accentuate the difficulties of multilateral trade agreements, but also highlight the growing importance of regional agreements. In a phase where new territory is being experienced – particularly with the need for the United States to address its current account deficit, will it be willing to compromise in any deals involving America’s interest – in favor of diplomatic relations or will it stick to the widely held principle in Washington that “no deal at all is better than a bad deal”? Or will the United Kingdom’s involvement in the present trade dispute involving Bombardier and Boeing bring about an unprecedented and unexpected turn in events?