International trade strengthens interstate cooperation and economic growth. Therefore, a multilateral trade regime was created at the end of the Second World War that could allow cheaper and easier trade between countries. The main supporters of the establishment of the regime were the developed countries. At the same time, regional trade agreements between two or more countries began to appear. They were originally considered as an aid to developing countries. However, more and more regional agreements have been concluded among the advocates of the multilateral regime in recent years. Moreover, multilateral negotiations have stalled. The objective of the master's thesis was to determine through the analysis of negotiations and final agreements at the multilateral (Uruguay Round) and regional level (North American Free Trade Agreement – NAFTA) whether the developed countries, or in cooperation with a limited number of developing countries, offer one another what they would not share with all the countries involved in multilateral negotiations. I have found that there are many reasons why the developed countries decide to enter regional agreements. They are connected with both geostrategic and purely economic interests, which also points to the protectionist attitude of the developed countries. Since each agreement also requires compromise, one can also observe that the developing countries were not prepared to accept certain commitments expected within free trade agreements. So it would be too simplistic to say that the developed countries enter into regional agreements exclusively because of protectionism against the developing countries.
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