The Eu S Bilateral Strategic Partnerships Drivers Or Blockers Of Interregional Free Trade Agreements

Master's Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: 1,0, University of Cologne (Lehrstuhl für internationale Politik und Außenpolitik), language: English, abstract: At the beginning of the 21st century, the international system is characterised by ever increasing interdependence, forcing actors to re-organise their relations. The new overlapping foreign policy instruments and cooperation formats on a bilateral, (sub)regional, interregional and multilateral level, in which states pursue different strategies for the assertion of interests, result in constellations that can be favourable but are often problematic for the conclusion of free trade agreements (FTAs). The EU, only recently having started to develop a common foreign policy and institutionalising relations with partners on a bilateral, interregional and multilateral level, is not free from this problem. Following an incoherent foreign trade policy, in which it shifts from bilateral (South Africa) to interregional (South East Asia) an mixed strategies (South America), the Union faces challenges in the conclusion of interregional FTAs. A current example is the ongoing bloc-to-bloc trade negotiations with the MERCOSUL (Mercado Comum do Sul in Portuguese or Common Market of the South in English) countries and the recent establishment of a bilateral SP with the MERCOSUL member Brazil that aims at cooperation on several topics, including trade. In the literature, attention has been paid to regionalisation and interregionalism, as well as the duality of the EU’s biregional relations and bilateral SPs creating chances and limits of global policy-making. But although trade has played a prominent role in the study of interregional relations, attempts to link the duality of biregional and bilateral approaches in EU foreign policy with foreign trade policy-making have been modest. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the impact of the EU’s bilateral SP with third states on the Union’s ability to conclude FTAs with economic blocs the SP is integrated with. A single case study, focusing on the coexistence of interregional EU-MERCOSUL FTA negotiations and the bilateral SP between the EU and Brazil, analyses the SP’s value as an EU foreign policy instrument for the enhancement of negotiations on interregional FTAs.

Master's Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Politics - Topic: Globalization, Political Economics, grade: sehr gut, College of Europe, language: English, abstract: Foreign commercial policy represents a major domain of European integration and an exclusive policy competence for the European Union. The strategy, focus and practical approach of this EU trade policy has been continuously adapted to the new circumstances in an ever more globalised world economy. Thus, the EU uses its foreign trade policy not just for mere economic ends but also as a tool to strengthen its global political influence. Having been a champion of multilateral trade negotiations in the framework of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) throughout the 1990s, the has EU changed this strategic orientation by the mid-2000s shifting its trade policy focus from a multilateral to a bilateral strategy and initiated preferential free trade agreements (FTA) with countries and regions all over the world. Among them, the one with the largest size was the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the United States of America, launched in 2013. Given the huge importance of the EU as a player in global trade, it seems relevant to examine from a political scientific perspective what have been the main reasons, drivers and motivations behind this enormous policy shift. I argue that external factors, domestic interests and institutional dynamics have collectively contributed to the reorientation of EU trade policy from multi- to bilateralism. I will test this hypothesis by means of three theoretical approaches: neorealism as a systemic theory, liberalism as a theory with a domestic focus and institutionalism to examine the role of the most important EU institution in trade policy, the European Commission. In order to get a more profound analysis of the main actors and motivations as driving forces of EU trade policy, I will furthermore use a case study on the, both in ambition and size, unrivalled bilateral Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership as it, due to its sheer economic and political impact on the both partners involved but also on the rest of the world, provides best significant insights of processes on all three levels of analysis of this paper. In a nutshell, the global power shift for the benefit of emerging powers and to the detriment of Europe in combination with strong economic interest groups within the EU seeking for market access all over the world as well as self-interests, norms and processes within the European Commission have altogether contributed to the change of course in EU trade policy towards bilateralism.

Academic Paper from the year 2020 in the subject Economics - Foreign Trade Theory, Trade Policy, , language: English, abstract: This paper examines the definition, history and status of free trade in the world today. In history a lot of countries acted in accordance with protectionist trade policies which means they had a lot of barriers, tariffs, and limits towards the trade with other countries. The aim was to protect their own economy. However, in today's world there is much more free trade which means "the buying and selling of goods, without limits on the amount of goods that one country can sell to another and without special taxes on the goods bought from a foreign country". The theory of free trade was first invented in 1776 by Adam Smith. And although it goes back to colonial times, free trade remained a theory for centuries. Ever since Adam Smith's concept of free trade, merchants tried to remove trade barriers between countries again and again. But especially during the industrialization period the countries used trade barriers to boost their economy. As late as after the second world war, the US for example started to lower import tariffs. The idea of lowering tariffs is that more trade takes place, countries can specialize economically in what they do best and afterwards exchange these products for goods that they don't produce most efficiently or that they don't have easily available. That in turn means the people are freer to choose their position in the economy, the worlds resources are used more efficient and the wealth of nations is growing. In a nutshell it means a country can compete in the global market by specializing to its fundamental economic strengths and by doing this increase economic growth. Some international institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) were founded to promote free trade in place of protectionism and so helped to build the world how it is today in terms of trading.

This study has emerged from an ongoing program of trilateral cooperation between WHO, WTO and WIPO. It responds to an increasing demand, particularly in developing countries, for strengthened capacity for informed policy-making in areas of intersection between health, trade and IP, focusing on access to and innovation of medicines and other medical technologies.

Since the end of the Cold War, European and East Asian states have developed a series of unique trans-boundary structures and agreements, such as the European Union and ASEAN, and through new bilateral, multilateral and inter-regional relationships both Europe and East Asia are helping to transform other regions and the global community. This publication examines the complex emergence of a multi-level global governance system through innovative developments in info-communications governance; the role of policy advisors, think-tanks and related track-2 processes; and changes in higher education systems.

This book studies the main causes, consequences and nature of the Asia-Pacific's new free trade agreement (FTA) trend, and its implications for the global economy. It explores the FTA policies of the region's trade powers and offers conceptual and theoretical perspectives on the relationship between economic bilateralism and regionalism.

The Asia-Pacific has become the Indo-Pacific region as the US, Japan, Australia and India have decided to join forces and scale-up their political, economic and security cooperation. The message coming from Washington, Tokyo, Canberra and New Delhi is clear: China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is no longer the only game in town and Beijing’s policymakers better get ready for fierce competition. Japan’s ongoing and future “quality infrastructure” policies and investments in the Indo-Pacific in particular make it very clear that Tokyo wants a (much) bigger slice of the pie of infrastructure investments in the region. China’s territorial expansionism in the South China Sea and its increasing interests and presence in countries in South Asia have done their share to help the four aforesaid countries expand their security and defence ties. Beijing, of course, smells containment in all of this and it probably has a point.Who will have the upper hand in shaping and defining Asian security and providing developing South and Southeast Asia with badly-needed infrastructure: the US and Japan together with its allies or the increasingly assertive and uncompromising China and its Belt and Road Initiative?

"Explores European foreign policy and the degree of European Union success in proposing itself as a valid international actor, drawing from the expertise of scholars and practitioners in many disciplines. Addresses issues past and present, theoretical and practice-oriented, and country- and region-specific"-- Provided by publisher.