Pathways from Preferential Trade ― The Politics of Trade Adjustment in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific

While the liberalization of trade has entailed adjustment costs for both large and small developing countries and LDCs, preference erosion is particularly onerous for small states. Tony Heron investigates the political and economic consequences and, more particularly, policy responses to the erosion of non-reciprocal preferences caused by the liberalization of trade. Although preference erosion is nothing new, what is striking at the current juncture is the degree to which preference erosion is now dominated by a policy consensus that sees the process as not only unavoidable but also desirable. He seeks not such much to challenge this viewpoint as to explore its political implications by looking at the actual experience of individual countries and regions making the transition from preferential to reciprocal free trade.

Tony Heron is Professor of International Politics at the University of York, UK. His other books include The New Political Economy of United States-Caribbean Relations (2004) and The Global Political Economy of Trade Protectionism and Liberalization (2012). Tony is co-editor of the journal New Political Economy.