Chapter 15 explores trade as an instrument of war and peace in the Middle East, a region that is rife with discriminatory initiatives. These encompass sanctions (including the Arab League boycott of Israel and the OPEC oil embargoes) as well as preferences (including regional and extraregional trade agreements). The main focus of the chapter is on President George W. Bush’s proposal in 2003 that the United States negotiate an FTA with the entire Middle Eastern region, an initiative that was intended to address security and economic problems all in one. That offer had few takers, and produced even fewer bilateral agreements. The analysis explains why this outcome was entirely predictable, given the narrow scope that was left for extending meaningful preferences to US imports from the region, as well as the political demands that the United States made of its prospective partners.