THE EU AS A CHANGING GLOBAL TRADE ACTOR? Examining the Role of Geo-economics on the Trade and Sustainable Development Chapters in EU Free Trade Agreements

Abstract: Global developments have led to regional economic power competitions, increasing the significance of strategic Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in specific regions. These developments challenge the EU as a trade actor necessitating a prioritisation between its traditional normative goals and market interests. The EU exports these normative goals through Trade and Sustainable Development chapters in EU FTAs. However, previous research indicates that there could be differences in the inclusion and the commitments of these normative provisions in the TSD chapters of FTAs. Therefore, considering the global geo-economic considerations, this thesis applied the theory of geo-economics to the EU as a trade actor and aimed to research how a country's strategic geo-economic importance influences the contents of the TSD chapters. It compares and analyses the TSD chapters of two strategically important ASEAN countries with two countries in regions of less strategic importance. The methodological approach for this thesis utilises a mixed-method comparative content analysis and creating original criteria and codebooks. It was possible to evaluate and grade the various TSD chapter components using these tools and determine whether the TSD texts differed from one another. Ultimately, the research suggests that the strategic geo-economic importance of a country impacts the provisions and commitments in the normative TSD chapters negatively. Both ASEAN countries scored lower than the less strategically important countries, indicating a potential causality between the two aspects. Furthermore, it suggests the EU as a market-interested trade actor when negotiating with strategically geo-economic important countries instead of the self-proclaimed normative actor, indicating a change.