DÜNYA İLİŞKİLERİNDE AVRUPA BİRLİĞİ - Deneme Sınavı - 2

The trade relations between industrialized states became based on the principle of reciprocity and a densely spun network of bilateral trade agreements between these states developed successively.

At the San Francisco conference in 1945, the victorious powers agreed upon the establishment of a centralized global collective security system that was realized through the Charter of the United Nations.

Within the Western bloc, the basic structures for the economic order and international economic co-operation were set up through the Bretton Woods agreement in 1944.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was established in 1947 as the first reciprocal multilateral structure for regulating the conditions for international trade.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was established in 1947 as the first reciprocal multilateral structure for regulating the conditions for international trade.

The establishment of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957 constitutes a ground-breaking example of far reaching regional economic integration.

The trade agreements with third states that have been concluded by the EU may be divided into four categories with different motivations. The first category concerns relations with a number of smaller, economically strong, European states with close economic connections to the internal market but have chosen to stay outside the process of deeper political integration and therefore not applied for EU membership. The second category consists of the Association Agreements that the Union has concluded with states in the near abroad within the frameworks of the Eastern Partnership and Southern Neighborhood. The trade- and cooperation agreements with the so called ACP-states, primarily developing states with a former colonial relationship to Union Member States, constitute a third category. The fourth, and for this chapter most relevant, category consist of the ambitious bi-lateral trade agreements that the Union has concluded, or is negotiating, with industrialized states outside Europe.

During the twenty-first century, the U.S. has concluded a regional free trade agreement with a group of Central American states (CAFTA-DR) and a number of bi-lateral agreements of which the most economically important are those with Australia, Chile, Singapore and the Republic of Korea.

The UK has since 1945, with a great deal of consistency, upheld a policy position supporting liberal conditions for world trade.

In the early 1940s the economic historian Karl Polanyi, in his classical work The Great Transformation, described the evolution of the market economy and its emancipation from the social and political frameworks it had been embedded in.

The established system for regulating the conditions for international trade through reciprocal agreements between states on bilateral, regional and multilateral levels is the result of a relatively recent development. The trade relations between industrialized states became based on the principle of reciprocity and a densely spun network of bilateral trade agreements between these states developed successively.

In this context, the establishment of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957 constitutes a ground-breaking example of far reaching regional economic integration.

The development of GATT together with the establishment of the EEC constitute examples of functional international co-operation influenced by the theories developed by the sociologist and political scientist David Mitrany during the early 1940s. The fundamental idea in Mitrany’s theory is that, through the successive establishment of multilateral structures for international co-operation in functional areas of mainly technical-legal character, mutual dependence between states will gradually increase. The objective is that this over time will lead to increased mutual trust between the states involved and increase the costs for initiating international conflicts, thereby contributing to the establishment of a stabile international peace order.

The trade agreements with third states that have been concluded by the EU may be divided into four categories with different motivations. The first category concerns relations with a number of smaller, economically strong, European states with close economic connections to the internal market but have chosen to stay outside the process of deeper political integration and therefore not applied for EU membership. The second category consists of the Association Agreements that the Union has concluded with states in the near abroad within the frameworks of the Eastern Partnership and Southern Neighborhood. The trade- and  cooperation agreements with the so called ACP-states, primarily developing states with a former colonial relationship to Union Member States, constitute a third category. The fourth, and for this chapter most relevant, category consist of the ambitious bi-lateral trade agreements that the Union has concluded, or is negotiating, with industrialized states outside Europe. In accordance with the present EU trade policy strategy of the Commission, Trade for all—Towards a more responsible trade and investment policy, adopted in 2015, the Union has a clear ambition to conclude comprehensive bilateral trade agreements with economically developed states outside its geographical proximity.

It is a well-known fact that the UK on 23 June 2016 held a referendum on the country’s continued membership in the EU.

The second scenario, and in my eyes the most plausible, is that the UK enters into an ambitious free trade agreement with the EU. The upcoming negotiations on a trade agreement between the UK and the EU will have a unique and previously rarely experienced character.

Finally it shall be noted that the U.S., in June 2017 declared its intention to cease all participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

i) The structure for regulating international trade will be given an increasingly bilateral character;

ii) The terms of trade within certain areas will get less liberal and the use of trade safeguard measures will increase which might escalate into increasing protectionism in general;

iii) The already evident weakening of the WTO- system will continue, probably at an increasing speed;

iv) The ongoing shift in the geopolitical balance will be faster when the European and American influence over the development of the regulation of the conditions for international trade is weakened in relative terms. UK’s withdrawal from membership in the EU will undoubtedly weaken European regionalism.

In the area of international trade this requires that the member states of the WTO are able to muster a common political will in order to strengthen the organization and to coordinate the development of multilateral regulation of international trade with the implementation of international agreements on core labor standards, environmental protection, measures to combat climate change and the 17 sustainable development goals defined by the UN General Assembly in Agenda 2030.

Since the 1990s, sustainable development has been an established element of EU’s trade agenda, not the least with regard to free trade agreements.