Trade agreements have become politicized in part because of public concerns that trade rules constrain regulatory decisions. How much international obligations constrain state behaviour, however, is contested in the International Relations literature. This book seeks to explain whether, why, and how jurisdictions comply with inconvenient international obligations. It does so through detailed process tracing of European Union (EU) policies found incompatible with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules: its ban on hormone-treated beef, its banana trade regime, its moratorium on the approval of genetically modified crops, its sugar export subsidies, and its anti-dumping duties on bed linen from India. It uses the adverse rulings as the 'treatment' in a 'natural experiment', contrasting the policy-relevant politics before and after each ruling. The case studies are supplemented by a qualitative comparative analysis of all EU policies found to contravene WTO rules that had to be changed by the end of 2019. The book contributes to debates on the impact of international institutions, on the effectiveness of the WTO, and on the nature of the EU as an international actor. It argues that the preferences of policy makers (the 'supply' of policy change) matter more than demands from societal actors in determining whether compliance occurs. It also argues that while policy change in response to adverse WTO rulings is the norm (good news for trade), WTO members do resist obligations that would compromise cherished policy objectives (good news for legitimacy). This volume contends that the EU's compliance performance is like that of most WTO members; it is not a unique international actor.

Supplying Compliance with Trade Rules: Explaining the EU's Responses to Adverse WTO Rulings

Politics & Social Sciences

Young, Alasdair R.

Politics & Government

Oxford University Press

Europe's trade policies matter in global politics. Despite the recent focus on Brazil, India, and particularly China, the European Union remains the world's largest market and trader. Despite its recent economic troubles, Europe remains in a powerful position to shape how globalization is governed. We know surprisingly little about how its trade policy is actually made, because previous works have focused on individual trade policy decisions to the detriment of the 'big picture' of the Union as a trade power. Parochial Global Europe argues that trade policy is composed of multiple, distinct policies. Each presents a distinctive constellation of mobilized societal preferences, pattern of political institutions, and range of government preferences. The balance of economic power between the EU and its trade partner(s) affects the stakes involved. Together these four factors define trade policy sub-systems, which help explain both the EU's objectives and whether it realizes them. The authors advance this argument by analysing the EU's role in the demise of the Doha Round, its use of anti-dumping and pursuit of market access, the trade effects of its single market programme and efforts at regulatory diplomacy, including the launch of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations. Parochial Global Europe thus focuses centrally on modern, 21st century trade policy. It also sheds light on the EU as a global actor by analysing its use of trade policy as a tool of foreign policy from promoting development, to encouraging human rights and environmental protection, to punishing security threats.

Parochial Global Europe: 21st Century Trade Politics

Business & Money

PETERSON, JOHN

International

Extending European Cooperation: The European Union and the 'New' International Trade Agenda

The specific focus of this book is on why and how the member governments of the European Union engage in international negotiations concerning the 'new' issues of trade in services and foreign direct investment. The key issue is that the EU's member governments have repeatedly sought to cooperate in such negotiations, despite significant differences in their economic interests and without having previously committed themselves to cooperate. This book has both theoretical and practical implications for EU policy-making.

Economics

Manchester University Press

The specific focus of this book is on why and how the member governments of the European Union engage in international negotiations concerning the 'new' issues of trade in services and foreign direct investment. The key issue is that the EU's member governments have repeatedly sought to cooperate in such negotiations, despite significant differences in their economic interests and without having previously committed themselves to cooperate. This book has both theoretical and practical implications for EU policy-making.

The New Politics of Trade: Lessons from TTIP (Comparative Political Economy)

The negotiation of international trade agreements has become the issue of the moment. With Brexit, a change in administration in the United States, a fragile economic recovery in the Eurozone, and China facing a slowdown in its growth, nothing is more critical to the future global economy than the terms of trade between its largest economic blocs. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is Europe's most controversial trade agreement ever. Aimed at reducing regulatory barriers between the United States and the EU, it was expected to be fairly straightforward given strong business support on both sides of the Atlantic. It has not been so. The negotiations have dragged on far longer than anticipated and now look set to fail altogether. Yet the process of its negotiation, the terms of the potential agreement and its sticking points provide valuable lessons for policy makers and academics tasked to bring future trade deals and arrangements to successful conclusions. Alasdair Young offers a penetrating analysis of the complexities of the TTIP negotiations and explores why they have proved so difficult to conclude, what motivates the different parties concerned and what implications there are for politics and policy. Young throws light on the limits of the transatlantic cooperation and the processes of globalization and teases out the implications for the UK in its post-Brexit trade negotiations and for other nations now facing a more protectionist stance from the United States.

Agenda Publishing

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Young, Alasdair R.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Young, Alasdair R.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Young, Alasdair R.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Supplying Compliance with Trade Rules: Explaining the EU's Responses to Adverse WTO Rulings

Parochial Global Europe: 21st Century Trade Politics

Extending European Cooperation: The European Union and the 'New' International Trade Agenda

Extending European Cooperation: The European Union and the 'New' International Trade Agenda

The New Politics of Trade: Lessons from TTIP (Comparative Political Economy)

The New Politics of Trade: Lessons from TTIP (Comparative Political Economy)