This paper reviews the trade agreement landscape and argues that the conventional understanding of trade agreements as encapsulated in the WTO Agreements is now outdated. This misperception about trade agreements is not just an institutional insufficiency. Concentration on those agreements has led many practitioners and commentators to underestimate the variable texture of the global trade agreement fabric. But these shortcomings have not inhibited states from concluding innovative alternatives to regulate and manage the cross-border movement of goods and services. As this paper shows, trade-related agreements that do not fit the perceived traditional mold have proliferated. Given these advances, more policy and scholarly attention is required. Accordingly, this paper serves as a roadmap for the accommodation of trade agreements within the WTO and as an agenda for additional research.

本文回顾了贸易协定的前景，并认为对包含在 WTO 协定中的贸易协定的传统理解现在已经过时。这种对贸易协定的误解不仅仅是制度上的不足。专注于这些协议导致许多从业者和评论员低估了全球贸易协定结构的可变结构。但这些缺点并没有阻止各国制定创新的替代方案来规范和管理商品和服务的跨境流动。正如本文所示，不符合传统模式的贸易相关协议激增。鉴于这些进步，需要更多的政策和学术关注。因此，