EU trade and regulation: economic and political dynamics

The EU’s new generation of deep and comprehensive free trade agreements not only promote EU trade but also have a bearing on the shape of the European model and in consequence on the sustainability of the integration project. They reach much further than conventional free trade agreements. Their benefits hinge on the abolition of non-tariff and regulatory barriers and enter into areas that are member state competences. Much depends on the agreements in question and similarity of preferences between trading partners. It is up to the EU, ultimately for the sake of the sustainability of its political integration project, to explicitly contemplate not only trade impacts but impacts on the Union’s economic model instead of letting rather than being pushed further down the road by unfolding trade dynamics.