All this changed in the late 1980s when large-scale regionalism was re-ignited in North America.
Regionalism swept the world trading system like wildfire while multilateral GATT talks proceeded at a
glacial pace. In December 1990, GATT negotiations slipped into a 4-year coma causing many to fear
that regionalism threatened multilateralism. As in the 1950s, regionalism was back at the top of the
global economic agenda and attracting attention from the profession’s leading lights.