Digital Commons Network^™

India–China trade in the near future is likely to take place against the backdrop of an emerging, uncertain network of Asian Free Trade Agree- ments (FTAs). This chapter takes a look at the contemporary history of regional trade negotiations. It traces the influence of a third party; namely, ASEAN’s efforts to build links to the rest of Asia through a complex network of FTAs. That influence suggests a disturbing possibility – the exportation of a tariff acceleration device developed during the ASEAN–China negotiations to the rest of Asia. The ASEAN– China FTA contains a tariff acceleration clause and similar devices …