European Union Trade Agreements Research Articles

Explaining the politicization of EU trade agreement negotiations over the past 30 years

AbstractAlthough the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the USA and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada have elicited considerable domestic contestation in Europe, several other agreements have been negotiated into public and media indifference. What explains this difference? In this article, I put forward a number of arguments on the structural causes of the politicization of European Union (EU) trade policy over the past 30 years and test them against a newly collected dataset covering 19 preferential trade agreements. The qualitative comparative analysis suggests that the politicization of EU trade negotiations is determined by the co-occurrence of several, well-defined conditions. More specifically, it tells us that: (1) the Lisbon Treaty's reform of EU trade policymaking is the main driver of politicization, (2) the level of public support for the EU is of particular relevance when it comes to ‘deep and comprehensive’ agreements that touch on sensitive domestic issues, and that (3) high adjustment costs expected from trade liberalization can lead to the politicization of trade negotiations.

Sustainable development and the environment in EU and Japanese free trade agreements: embedding anthropocentric narratives

ABSTRACT New generation’ free trade agreements now include ‘Trade and Sustainable Development’ (TSD) chapters designed to improve environmental provisions within overall trading arrangements. The wide-ranging European Union (EU)-Japan agreement of 2018 represents the culmination of a trend towards the greater inclusion of such TSD elements, and, as it covers one-third of global GDP, the significance of this agreement for trading relations cannot be understated. Comparing it with other agreements involving Japan and the EU, I argue that greater attention to sustainable development in trade connections, notwithstanding tangible significant environmental improvements, further embeds an anthropocentric narrative of trade-environment linkages and supports a ‘win–win’ linkage between enhancing economic growth and ensuring environmental protections. Through an eco-centric critique, I seek to challenge the fundamental anthropocentric assumptions underpinning such inclusions and explore the ways in which the language of environmental protection and climate change has been depoliticised by a particular framing of sustainable development.

Article 8 - CETA as the EU’s First Third-Generation Trade Agreement: Does It Act Like One?

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union (EU) has been hailed as the trend-setter for third-generation trade agreements, which focus predominantly on beyond-the-border impediments to international trade (e.g., rules and regulations) than at-the-border barriers (e.g., tariffs). CETA formed the basis for subsequent EU trade agreements, which are a key element of the EU’s trade policy. It also provided inspiration for third-generation trade agreements outside the EU. The big question for trade policy, in the EU and beyond, is whether third-generation trade agreements achieve their intended objectives with respect to beyond-the-border obstacles to trade. In other words, are they effective instruments in liberalizing international trade? After all, facilitating trade through regulatory and administrative cooperation is much more difficult than eliminating or lowering tariffs on imported goods. Having been in force (provisionally) for five years, CETA offers the best case to study the effectiveness of third-generation trade agreements.

The United Kingdom: Turning its Back on Influencing the EU?

AbstractWithdrawal from the European Union (EU) has seen the United Kingdom (UK) abandon membership of and formal influence over policy making in the EU and pursue a policy of disintegration from and minimal commitments towards the EU. Although the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement is strikingly lacking in ambition, it does involve a dense and complex institutional framework to manage relations. Moreover, the post‐Brexit UK–EU relationship includes a unique set of arrangements that keep Northern Ireland in the EU's customs territory and internal market for goods. These arrangements involve dynamic regulatory alignment and are managed by a dedicated institutional set‐up that has the potential at least to provide the UK ‘in respect of Northern Ireland’ with a particular decision‐shaping role with regard to applicable areas of the EU acquis. This article considers the initial operation of these sets of institutional frameworks and their potential for UK influence over the EU.

Unspoken SPS-Plus and SPS-Minus Aspirations: Biotechnologies in EU and US Trade Agreements

In the World Trade Organization (WTO), the US approach to science-based risks and trade restrictions prevailed over that of the European Union (EU). The EU, dissatisfied with the margin of action available when “relevant scientific evidence is insufficient”, largely kept intact its internal practice on marketing and importing genetically modified (GM) crops and GM-containing products. The goal of this article is to ascertain whether these regulatory preferences of the US and the EU translate into their post-Biotech external trade efforts. US and EU preferential trade agreements are scanned for rules on trade in biotechnology goods or the use of precautionary elements in regulation. It transpires that neither bloc systematically tries (or manages) to bend trade agreements to accommodate its defensive or offensive trade interests in this field. Among the possible reasons for this apparent inertia are the US confidence in the WTO baseline and the EU preference for a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to its trade-restrictive policy in this area.

EU Trade Agreements: To Mix or Not to Mix, That Is the Question

The European Union (EU) can only act internationally on competences that have been transferred to it by its Member States. Trade agreements negotiated by the EU that include provisions outside its exclusive competences should be concluded as ‘mixed’. Mixed trade agreements must be ratified following not only the procedures set out in the EU treaties, but also the national ratification procedures of the Member States. As a result, national or even regional parliaments may block trade deals agreed between the EU and its trading partners after years of negotiations. Should the EU then avoid negotiating mixed trade agreements? We argue that the answer to this question depends crucially on the objectives of the EU when negotiating with its trading partners. If the EU is mostly driven by market-access motives, it should restrict the agreement to policy areas under its exclusive competence, thus insulating the trade deal from the legal and political risks of mixity. When instead its motives are mostly political, mixity is a ‘necessary evil’ to achieve non-trade objectives. Trade Agreements, European Unity, Competences, Ratification Procedures

How to assess health policy impacts of new generation trade agreements

Abstract Issue Negotiation of trade agreements has become a key part of current international policy environment with the consequence of increasing concerns over impacts on public health, health protection and policy space for health. Trade agreements represent 'meta-regulation' where key impacts will be on how governments can regulate with different implications depending on existing regulatory framework within a country. Engaging with trade requires understanding how health-related arguments can be made and where they reside. Results This presentation discusses where and how public health advocates can engage with trade related decision-making on new generation trade agreements with focus on regulation, services and protection of investment and intellectual property rights. The innovative approach on policy space for health will overcome focus on existing standards and allows discussion on what exceptions and exclusions in trade agreements actually imply. Policy space allows analysis on impacts which may not relate to direct health outcomes, such as issues with privacy, health data, access to new technologies, and pricing of medicines. The presentation will use case examples from European Union trade agreements and will discuss politics of mandate negotiations as well as how diversions, rhetorical/empty claims and circular traps are used in in political decision-making and the extent to which and how these can be counteracted on key public health and health systems -related issues. Lessons learned If negotiated agreements will affect how governments can regulate in future rather than existing standards, this requires a different approach for public health researchers and advocates. The lessons learned will provide suggestions on how to approach trade policies as part of Health in All Policies and where limits and opportunities of health and sustainability impact assessments reside. Key messages New generation trade agreements impact on regulatory policy space. Assessing impacts of trade agreements need to go beyond impact assessments.

EU economic integration agreements, Brexit and trade

The effects of regionalism on trade have been extensively evaluated within a gravity model framework. With the expected exit of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU), the prospect of regional disintegration has brought about a new impetus to studying trade policy effects. Using actual and forecast data for a panel of bilateral imports between the EU15 and the rest of the world, this paper examines the trade effects of EU economic integration agreements (EIAs), their evolution over time and the related counterfactual Brexit trade policy scenarios. Distinct trade effects are obtained for the EU trade related agreements; positive, significant and of similar magnitude for the EU and free trade agreement (FTA) coefficients, but negative and significant (and smaller in magnitude) for the regional economic partnership agreements (EPAs). The subperiod results suggest the positive coefficients of EU and FTA membership tend to diminish over time, implying earlier membership of EIAs came with greater trade benefits. Finally, in generating the predicted values for the trade effects of three alternative counterfactual Brexit scenarios (hard Brexit, hard Brexit plus, global Britain), the findings suggest an asymmetric effect depending on the perspective of the UK versus the EU. Whereas the UK’s trade would decline substantially with all three country groups (the EU, the FTAs and regional EPAs) and rise substantially with the rest of the world, only minor percentage changes are predicted for EU bilateral trade.

Towards Explaining Varying Degrees of Politicization of EU Trade Agreement Negotiations

Over the last decade, European Union (EU) trade agreement negotiations in the form of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada have been strongly contested. By contrast, many other EU trade negotiations have sailed on with far less politicization, or barely any at all. In this contribution, we assess a series of plausible explanation for these very varying degrees of politicization across EU trade agreement negotiations—conceived of as the combination of polarization of opinions, salience given to them in public debate, and the expansion of the number of societal actors involved therein. Through a review of existing explanations, we show how each of these explanations faces a set of challenges. In the third section, we argue it is useful to conceive of these existing explanations as structural background conditions enabling agency on the part of interest group and civil society organizations. We therefore close by sketching how literature on the relationship between interest group mobilization and public opinion could inform further comparative research on trade policy negotiations, and on politicization of EU policy making in general.

Towards achieving sustainable fishing through EU trade agreements?

The European Union (EU) has been supporting its Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) through its trade powers for 40 years. This practice has evolved significantly over the years. This paper explores this evolution with respect to achieving sustainable fishing beyond EU waters. In particular, this paper examines two major ways in which the EU trade agreements impact sustainable fishing abroad. First, the discussion looks at the EU’s use of trade agreements to leverage access to the fishing resources of third States. The paper finds this EU practice to be lacking the necessary coherence and transparency and it raises doubts about the balance between commercial and sustainability concerns. Second, the discussion looks at the fisheries cooperation provisions included in the various EU trade agreements. In that regard the paper examines the changing and evolving emphasis on sustainable fishing. The paper finds that the EU’s trade agreements have evolved greatly. The contemporary EU trade agreements seek to ensure sustainable fishing as none before them have. As such the EU is successfully using them as vessels for implementing its external CFP. The EU does so by setting the agenda on the international plane and diffusing specific CFP norms through its trade agreements.

EU Trade Agreements and Human Rights: From Extraterritorial to Territorial Obligations

Abstract As the European Union (EU) pursues bilateral trade agreements with third states, the EU should be cognizant of the potential ‘extraterritorial’ impacts of these agreements on the enjoyment of human rights in third states when designing and concluding bilateral trade agreements with third states. This article develops a jurisdictional model to determine the geographic scope of EU human rights obligations in the context of the adoption of EU bilateral trade agreements. It is submitted that the doctrine’s classic semantic focus on ‘extraterritoriality’, captured by such constructs as control, impact, or functional competence, clouds rather than illuminates matters of scope of human rights obligations in the context of trade agreements. Instead of looking for justifications for the extraterritorial application of human rights, it is suggested to turn the justificatory gaze to the internal territorial aspects of the human rights risks created by EU decisions on the conclusion of bilateral trade agreements. An internal-territorial model obviates the need for an elaborate conceptualization of ‘extraterritorial’ obligations.

Mapping Variation of Civil Society Involvement in EU Trade Agreements: A CSI Index

Civil society has apparently been granted an important role in the monitoring of the sustainable development chapters in the new generation European Union (EU) trade agreements. While a debate about the role and functioning of these civil society mechanisms is emerging, we lack a profound comparative analysis of the treaty provisions establishing them. In order to address this gap and to map the extent to which civil society is included in the agreements, a Civil Society Involvement (CSI) Index is developed inductively and applied to the ten relevant EU trade agreements. It concludes that although some form of template is used, large variation exists. A distinction is made between three categories of CSI score: high (Canada, Korea), medium (Georgia, Moldova, Vietnam, Ukraine), and low (Central America, Singapore, Peru-Colombia, Ecuador). The outcome also reveals interesting nuances within these categories and calls for further research on the rationale for and consequences of this variation.

Unravelling the Puzzle of Social Standards’ Design in EU and US Trade Agreements

ABSTRACTThe European Union (EU) and the United States (US) are signing preferential trade agreements (PTAs) increasingly used as vehicles for exporting social regulation, such as labour and environmental standards. Despite the similarity in terms of the inclusion of such provisions, their design varies greatly between US and EU agreements. The US exports its domestic standards, relying on coercive enforcement, while the EU emphasises international rules and soft measures. Why do US PTAs have stricter social standards than those signed by the EU? Using the principal–agent approach to explain the domestic politics of social provisions in EU and US PTAs, I argue that greater insulation of trade executives from interest groups and legislators results in their ability to set the agreement agenda independently, in accordance with their normative preferences. The argument is supported by case studies and original interview data.

The Impact of Labour Rights Commitments in EU Trade Agreements: The Case of Peru

While the inclusion of labour rights in European Union (EU) trade agreements has become an ‘unobjectionable norm’, analyses of their impact have been largely absent from the literature. This article aims to partly fill this gap in existing research by examining the impact of labour rights commitments in the EU–Peru–Colombia agreement, with particular reference to the agricultural sector in Peru. Following a brief background overview of labour rights in agriculture in Peru, we draw up the analytical framework for assessing the impact of these commitments. We discern three distinctive legal commitments and find that they are flexible and conservative, also compared to provisions in other EU trade agreements. Subsequently, we assess the impact of these commitments by analysing to what extent they are being upheld in practice. Empirical evidence from several sources, including field research, shows that the Peruvian government has failed to implement the labour rights commitments in several respects. In the conclusions, we point to the cautious role of the EU, which has scope to monitor Peru’s labour rights compliance more proactively.

Greening up: the effects of environmental standards in EU and US trade agreements

ABSTRACTCan environmental provisions in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) foster an environmental race to the top? The ways in which different enforcement mechanisms in North–South PTAs affect the implementation of environmental standards in developing countries are examined. It is argued that environmental provisions in European Union (EU) and United States (US) PTAs will be effective in instigating policy change in partner countries, although the timing of the effect will vary significantly. Fines and sanctions in US PTAs incentivize partner countries to reform during the negotiation process. Reform in EU PTA partners is predicted to occur during agreement implementation as a result of the EU’s policy dialogue approach. Illustrative evidence is provided and the hypotheses are tested using statistical estimations of EU and US PTAs with environmental provisions on developing countries’ environmental policy reform.

European Commission, trade agreements and diversity of cultural expressions: Between autonomy and influence

The Convention on diversity of cultural expressions – adopted by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2005 – is a main international instrument within the global governance of cultural and audiovisual industries. For its part, the European Commission played a critical role in the negotiation, leading to the Convention on Diversity of Cultural Expressions’ adoption. In this respect, the article aims to explore why and how the Commission uses the Convention on Diversity of Cultural Expressions throughout the recent European Union trade negotiations, for which purposes and how the Convention on Diversity of Cultural Expressions influences the European Union foreign policy and its objectives. The article is more concerned with analysing the policy process through which the Commission’s strategy is formulated in light of the Convention on Diversity of Cultural Expressions and of the place of cultural and audiovisual industries within the European Union trade agreements and also concerned with understanding whether the Commission’s autonomy is transformed into influence within the policy process.

Gezi Park and EuroMaidan: social movements at the borders

Both Turkey and Ukraine are located at the external borders of the European Union (EU), and are seen as important partners of the EU, especially in terms of economic relations and strategic partnership. Both countries experienced en masse protest events in 2013: the Gezi Park protests and EuroMaidan, starting, respectively, in May 2013 and November 2013. Although these protests started initially for different reasons – the brutal eviction of a sit-in organized for protecting the trees in Taksim Gezi Park and the Ukrainian government's abandonment of EU trade agreement talks – and seem spatially, temporally and ideologically separate, they both include claims related to a “more just and transparent system”. Such claims are not purely political and are closely linked to a social dimension, especially in terms of local and European space-making. This article aims to understand the importance of Gezi Park and EuroMaidan within the framework of new social movements in terms of space-making and the perception of human rights, democracy, justice, identitarian politics and consensual social relations as Euro-concepts or European ideals.

Bolivia–European Union Trade Agreement: Is It an Option for the Morales Administration?

In 2008 Bolivia ceased to benefit from US trade preferences, which resulted in thousands of jobs lost thoroughout the country. Without the political will to initiate a trade agreement with the United States, the Morales administration has the opportunity to initiate a trade agreement with the European Union. This study evaluates macro-and microeconomic impacts emerging from a hypothetical trade agreement between Bolivia and the European Union. Our methodology consisted of using a computable general equilibrium model as price generator, and a micro-simulation approach as a bridge to transmit those price changes to the household level under two liberalization scenarios. We conclude that Bolivia could benefit if a trade agreement with the European Union (the second largest importer of goods in the world) is accomplished. RESUMEN: En 2008 Bolivia dejo de beneficiarse de las preferencias comerciales que recibia de los Estados Unidos, lo cual resulto en la perdida de miles de trabajos en todo el pais. Sin la voluntad politica de iniciar un acuerdo comercial con Estados Unidos, la administracion Morales tiene la oportunidad de iniciar un acuerdo comercial con la Union Europea. Este estudio evalua los impactos macro y micro emergentes de un hipotetico acuerdo entre Bolivia y la Union Europea. Nuestra metodologia consiste en usar un modelo de equilibrio general como generador de precios, y un modelo de micro-simulacion utilizado como puente para transmitir los cambios en precios a nivel de hogar bajo dos escenarios diferentes de liberalizacion. La conclusion fundamental de esta investigacion es que un acuerdo comercial entre Bolivia y la Union Europea es preferible a mantener el statu quo . Algunos de los paises andinos (Colombia y Peru) ya lograron un acuerdo comercial con la Union Europea mientras que los paises del Mercosur estan trabajando para alcanzar este acuerdo. La administracion Morales decidio, por el momento, dejar de lado cualquier posibilidad de acuerdo con los Estados Unidos (el mayor importador de bienes del mundo), aunque el pais puede aun beneficiarse si logra un acuerdo con la Union Europea (el segundo mayor importador de bienes del mundo).

The European Union Economic Partnership Agreements with Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper analyses the impacts of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) countries and those of the EU (European Union) in the specific case of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In order to comply with WTO (World Trade Organisation) requirements, the EPAs shift the trade preferences previously enjoyed by the ACP countries to a free trade regime between the EU and regional groupings of ACP countries. EPAs were supposed to fully enter into force at the end of 2007, but many ACP SSA countries have not been ready or have been reluctant to implement them at that date. EPAs are examined in their different contexts, in particular the theoretical underpinnings of trade liberalisation and regionalism respectively, as well as the increasing number of regional arrangements aiming at ‘deep’ regional integration in all parts of the world, which ensued from the disappointment with multilateralism of many developed and developing countries. EPAs are then investigated in the specific context of SSA, i.e. that of a distorted trade structure, an excessive dependence on commodity exports, fragile industrial bases, as well as by a disputed effectiveness of its many intra-SSA regional agreements. EPAs co-exist with other North-South preferential trade agreements, in particular the EU GSP (Generalised System of Preferences), including the EBA (Everything But Arms) initiative, and the US AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act).It is shown that EPAs will have very different outcomes depending on countries and their particular initial conditions, economic structures and regional context. It is also revealed that these outcomes depend on many variables: global factors, international prices, domestic market structures, trade policies conducted by the EU, the governments and various trade agreements to which they belong. EPA outcomes are therefore uncertain and can be assessed only on a case by case basis, at the level of countries, sectors and products. In addition, many impact assessments rely on simulations, which cannot be considered as ‘hard facts’.EPAs may have beneficial effects on SSA countries and enhance their exports and competiveness. They may constitute a mode of integration that is more efficient than multilateral liberalisation, and in fine may be a more manageable step towards multilateralisation, especially in poor countries. However, EPAs exhibit several risks, e.g. diverting trade, augmenting the complexity of the already complex ‘spaghetti bowl’ of trade arrangements, creating fiscal losses in countries that suffer from narrow fiscal bases and rely on trade taxes, eroding the existing industrial bases - which are fragile, threatened by more competitive developing countries, especially China, and often depend on the previous EU unilateral preferences - and benefiting EU firms more than those of SSA.EPAs have the ambition to foster trade, improve regional relationships, deepen north-south integration and enhance development. These are numerous objectives, and moreover countries may strongly differ: they can be reached if EPAs help countries to reinforce their capacity to conduct their policies - the ‘policy space’ - control the effects of trade diversion and displacements of industrial activities that often accompany free trade agreements, and strengthen their industrial sectors, as high-growth Asian countries.

The Euro–Mediterranean Partnership: Trade in Services as an Alternative to Migration?

AbstractThis article discusses options to facilitate movement of workers between high‐income and developing countries within the framework of trade agreements, focusing on the European Union's partnership agreements with neighbouring countries. Existing frameworks for co‐operation offer the possibility of expanding temporary rather than longer‐term or permanent movement of workers since extant trade agreements provide scope for negotiating specific market access commitments for services, including those delivered through the cross‐border movement of natural persons. Even though the potential for such ‘embodied’ trade in services will not be anywhere near what would be associated with substantial liberalization of migration regimes, furthering the services trade dimension in the European Union's trade agreements offers significant potential Pareto gains. For the partner countries these gains from temporary movement of service providers are both direct – through greater employment and revenue from providing services in the European Union – and indirect – by helping to increase and sustain higher growth at home.