The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) created under the World Trade Organization in 1995 established minimum standard of intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection for member nations. Concurrently, the US has used preferential trade agreements (PTAs) to negotiate for stronger IPR protection in its trading partners.
This paper empirically accesses the effects of PTAs on US exports. I use a gravity model of trade to analyze the changes in US exports to 19 trading partners who signed a PTA with the US during the period 1991-2015. I regress US exports on dummy variables that identify the signing and entry-into-force of PTAs. I control for a variety of country indicators such as GDP, real exchange rate, and trade openness. I also distinguish between high-tech and low-tech industries. I create interaction terms with high-tech pharmaceutical exports. I find empirical evidence that US exports at the aggregate level and also for high-tech industries increase after signing the PTA.