The EU/Japan EPA : taking stock and looking ahead

Abstract

The world has been through different stages of trade negotiations during the last decade. With the fundamental insight that the world trade order in the wake of the Doha round stalled, countries and established trading areas such as the EU looked for more constructive solutions to bring trade forward. Before the Trump administration took office, the EU and the US were negotiating the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). In the Pacific, the US was engaged in negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) framework, capturing most trade outside China. With the Trump administration, the US view on trade relations and trade negotiations changed drastically. With the US currently withdrawn from both the TTIP and the TPP negotiation frameworks but with the UK applying to join the ‘replacement version’ of the TPP called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the playing field of international political economy and trade relations is profoundly altered. In the wake of the post-Trump position of the US and continuing tense relations with China, the world has rapidly seen geoeconomics as a new field with strong repercussions on the international political scene.