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Abstract
The degree to which countries are pursuing regional trade agreements (RTAs) has been
nothing short of extraordinary. The topic of regional integration is “breeding concern”
among academics and policymakers as to the intra- and extra-regional effects of these
agreements. This study constructs and uses an updated database of agricultural trade
flows from 1992-2008 to shed light on the degree to which insider and outsiders status
affects U.S. agricultural exporters and its competing suppliers. Regarding outsider
status, we modify the existing approach by incorporating region-specific extra-bloc trade
flow variables to examine the degree to which RTAs divert trade from specific regions of
the world. The results are quite illuminating. While RTAs may not be trade diverting on
net, all RTAs considered exhibit trade diversion with respect to at least some regions. The
results have important policy implications for nations that are not actively participating in
the latest wave of regionalism.