chunk1

ABSTRACT. The European Union’s trade strategy since 2006 has been justified on the assumption that deep and comprehensive bilateral trade agreements are at worst complementary to and at best promote multilateral negotiations. Drawing from the literature on the impact of the multilateral regime on the formation and objective of bilateral or regional agreements this article challenges the EU’s position. While the European Commission claims that the WTO+ and WTO-X nature of the agreements determine the compatibility of bilateral and multilateral trade approaches, we argue that their complementarity is also impacted by what is happening at multilateral level. To this effect we introduce a new variable focusing on the level of difficulties in multilateral negotiations. While multilateral negotiations can spur new bilateral agreements as a strategy of promoting agreement at the multilateral level, bilateral agreements may instead become substitutes for multilateral agreements when the difficulties of achieving the latter become too severe. An empirical assessment indicates that the stalemate in the Doha Development Round post-2008 coincided with a shift in EU bilateral trade policy away from negotiations with emerging economies, to an intensified focus on large developed countries; agreements with the latter offered the EU the best alternatives to, and substitutes for, a multilateral agreement.
JEL codes: F13; L81; O24: P33: Q17

Keywords: European Union; multilateralism; bilateralism; trade policy; Free Trade Agreements (FTAs); Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs)

How to cite: Garcia-Duran, Patricia, and Leif Johan Eliasson (2018), “Squaring the Circle: Assessing whether the European Union’s Pursuit of Bilateral Trade Agreements Is Compatible with Promoting Multilateralism,” Journal of Self-Governance and Management Economics 6(1): 7–32.

Received 18 January 2017 • Received in revised form 11 April 2017
Accepted 12 April 2017 • Available online 27 April 2017

doi:10.22381/JSME6120181

PATRICIA GARCIA-DURAN
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
University of Barcelona
(corresponding author)
LEIF JOHAN ELIASSON
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
East Stroudsburg University

Home | About Us | Events | Our Team | Contributors | Peer Reviewers | Editing Services | Books | Contact | Online Access

© 2009 Addleton Academic Publishers. All Rights Reserved.

 
Joomla templates by Joomlashine