This volume represents the collaboration of thirty-eight authorities in the field of international trade who were willing to take part in a creative endeavor. Together, these attorneys, economists, and political scientists adopted a common viewpoint to examine different trade-related issues. That viewpoint is summed up in this book's title as one of political economy, and described in detail in the book's introduction.

The endeavor is a tribute to the contributions of Robert E. Hudec on the occasion of his retirement from the University of Minnesota Law School. For decades, Bob Hudec has explored problems of international trade, blending the legal, political, and economic factors at play into comprehensible explanations of the actions of nations. With clarity and wit, he has shared his insights with others in the numerous works listed in the bibliography at the end of the book. It is a fitting tribute that others should adopt the same methodology in their examinations of the timely trade issues addressed in this book.

Even before beginning his career in international trade law, Professor Hudec had distinguished himself: Rhodes Scholar, magna cum laude graduate of Yale University Law School, editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, and law clerk to Justice Potter Stewart of the United States Supreme Court. It is no surprise that he has gone on to gain international respect for his research and writing, and has been selected repeatedly to serve on GATT/WTO and NAFTA dispute settlement panels.