Competing Logics of Integration: EU Trade Post-Brexit
| Date | 01 April 2021 |
| Published date | 01 April 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/00208817211004692 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Competing Logics of
Integration: EU Trade
Post-Brexit
Valerie D’Erman1
Abstract
The European Union’s (EU) external trade policy has long been championed
by scholars and practitioners alike as one of the great accomplishments
for European integration. The UK’s exit from the EU in 2020 offers many
precedents; one of which is the current negotiation of a trade deal between the
EU and a former important member of the single market. This paper outlines
the trade negotiation process between the EU and the UK and the resulting
Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) against the backdrop of the COVID-
19 pandemic to forecast the broader potential evolution of EU trade policy. The
increasing visibility of nationalist and protectionist statements in various instances
of political communication suggests a major shift in multilateral norms away from
the liberal-international emphasis on heightened trade and interdependence.
The implications for the EU external trade policy are a re-direction of efforts
toward internal single market cohesion, and a more cautious approach to future
potential trade agreements.
Keywords
Brexit, EU trade, integration, Brexit, multilateralism
Introduction
The European Union’s (EU) external trade policy has long been championed by
scholars and practitioners alike as one of the great accomplishments of European
integration. As early as the Treaty of Rome in 1957, the six founding member
countries of the European Economic Community (EEC) initiated a Common
Commercial Policy (CCP) as an extension of the early European Union Customs
1 Instructor and Research Associate, Department of Political Science, University of Victoria, Victoria,
Canada.
Corresponding author:
Valerie D’Erman, Department of Political Science, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, Canada.
E-mail: vjderman@uvic.ca
International Studies
58(2) 219–233, 2021
2021 Jawaharlal Nehru University
2021 Jawaharlal Nehru University
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DOI: 10.1177/00208817211004692
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