As border barriers have declined, private barriers to competition have grown more significant. More and more international trade disputes involve private business practices that allegedly block the market access of rival firms.
Such disputes include high profile conflicts between Japan and the United States over semiconductors, auto parts, and photographic film, between the European Union and the United States over aerospace and defence mergers, and between Asian nations and others over access to telecommunications networks.
More such disputes are inevitable, especially in sectors that have been traditionally state-controlled but that are now subject to privatization.