IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/asiaeu/v21y2023i3d10.1007_s10308-023-00670-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The European Commission and the “Europeanisation” of EU trade diplomacy: the case of EU-China relations, 1999–2021

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Harst

    (University of Groningen)

Abstract

In recent times, the European Commission has shown to have increasing difficulty keeping up its central position in trade diplomacy towards China, in the face of a growing wariness and assertiveness of the member states. In this article, we observe a changing balance, a development from EU diplomacy towards European diplomacy, meaning a growing influence of EU member states in the process. We call this the “Europeanisation” of EU economic diplomacy. This is not limited to China and reflects a broader development, as is visible in the politicisation of the negotiation processes towards the (failed) Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the (provisionally applied) Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada, and also in the trend towards mixed agreements that require member state ratification. However, it was particularly in the relations with China that such trends became visible for the first time and have continued to manifest themselves throughout the years. Apart from the member states assembled in the Council, also the European Parliament has strengthened its position in the process at the expense of the Commission.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Harst, 2023. "The European Commission and the “Europeanisation” of EU trade diplomacy: the case of EU-China relations, 1999–2021," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 413-427, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiaeu:v:21:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s10308-023-00670-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10308-023-00670-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10308-023-00670-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10308-023-00670-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sebastien Goulard, 2020. "The Impact of the US–China Trade War on the European Union," Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, Emerging Markets Forum, vol. 12(1), pages 56-68, January.
    2. Manfred Elsig & Cédric Dupont, 2012. "European Union Meets South Korea: Bureaucratic Interests, Exporter Discrimination and the Negotiations of Trade Agreements," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 492-507, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eckhardt, Jappe & Serrano, Omar, 2014. "Economic Integration and Rivalry in Asia: Comparing Regional Trade Strategies of China and India," Papers 762, World Trade Institute.
    2. Sjöholm, Fredrik, 2023. "Navigating the New Normal: The European Union's Changing Stance on Globalization in the Era of Trade Conflicts," Working Paper Series 1466, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    3. Byeongho Lim & Jeongho Yoo & Kyoungseo Hong & Inkyo Cheong, 2021. "Impacts of Reverse Global Value Chain (GVC) Factors on Global Trade and Energy Market," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-17, June.
    4. Katharina Luise Meissner, 2016. "A case of failed interregionalism? Analyzing the EU-ASEAN free trade agreement negotiations," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 319-336, September.
    5. Jappe Eckhardt, 2013. "EU Unilateral Trade Policy-Making: What Role for Import-Dependent Firms?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(6), pages 989-1005, November.
    6. Baccini, Leonardo & Dür, Andreas & Elsig, Manfred, 2015. "The politics of trade agreement design: revisiting the depth-flexibility nexus," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62303, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Marie Peffenköver & Johan Adriaensen, 2021. "Detecting Looming Vetoes: Getting the European Parliament’s Consent in Trade Agreements," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 74-84.
    8. Basedow, Robert & Hoerner, Julian, 2024. "Trading votes: what drives MEP support for trade liberalisation?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119995, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Dirk De Bièvre & Arlo Poletti, 2020. "Towards Explaining Varying Degrees of Politicization of EU Trade Agreement Negotiations," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 243-253.
    10. Andreas Dür & Leonardo Baccini & Manfred Elsig, 2014. "The design of international trade agreements: Introducing a new dataset," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 353-375, September.
    11. Todd Allee & Manfred Elsig & Andrew Lugg, 2017. "Is the European Union Trade Deal with Canada New or Recycled? A Text-as-data Approach," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8(2), pages 246-252, May.
    12. Mwita Chacha & Adil Nussipov, 2022. "The Breadth–Depth Trade‐Off and Varieties of Preferential Trade Agreements," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 821-844, May.
    13. Sangeeta Khorana & Maria Garcia, 2013. "European Union–India Trade Negotiations: One Step Forward, One Back?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 684-700, July.
    14. Arlo Poletti & Daniela Sicurelli, 2016. "The European Union, Preferential Trade Agreements, and the International Regulation of Sustainable Biofuels," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 249-266, March.
    15. M. Huysmans, 2019. "Exporting protection: EU trade agreements, geographical indications, and gastronationalism," Working Papers 19-26, Utrecht School of Economics.
    16. Andreas Dür & Christoph Moser & Gabriele Spilker, 2020. "The political economy of the European Union," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 561-572, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:asiaeu:v:21:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s10308-023-00670-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.