Spaghetti Bowl Phenomenon | 25 Apr 2025

The turmoil over regional trade policies and proliferating Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) reignited discussions on the Spaghetti bowl phenomenon. 

• According to the World Bank, the Spaghetti Bowl Phenomenon refers to the confusing and overlapping network of multiple FTAs between countries, which end up complicating trade instead of facilitating it.  
  • As each FTA comes with its own set of Rules of Origin (ROO), which makes it challenging for producers to meet the varied criteria when trading across multiple FTAs. 
  • The term "Spaghetti Bowl Phenomenon" was coined by Jagdish Bhagwati in 1995, where he criticized FTAs for being counterproductive, complicating global trade rather than promoting openness. 
  • The “spaghetti” metaphor compares the tangle of trade rules to a bowl of spaghetti (messy and hard to navigate). 
• Impact: Despite more FTAs, trade volumes between regions (like South Asia and East Asia) often remain stagnant due to this complexity.