There is a lot of hype about the prospects of an EU-US free trade agreement, especially in the wake of Barack Obama’s State of the Union address last week. Supporters point to the benefits such an agreement could bring to both economies. Yet the costs are likely to outweigh the benefits. Most importantly, a transatlantic deal will undermine multilateralism, in particular the long-overdue completion of the Doha round, and weaken multilateral institutions such as the World Trade Organisation.
圍繞歐盟-美國自由貿易協定問題一直存在著大量的炒作,特別是在巴拉克?奧巴馬(Barack Obama)上周發表國情咨文演講之后。支持者指出了此協定可能給兩個經濟體帶來的好處。然而,要為協定付出的代價很可能大于它帶來的好處。最重要的是,跨大西洋協定可能會危及多邊主義的基礎,特別是人們期待已久的多哈(Doha)回合談判。另外,此協定會減弱世貿組織(WTO)等多邊機構的影響力。