A Geo-Economic Turn in Trade Policy?: EU Trade Agreements in the Asia-Pacific

Contemporary  trade policy is increasingly framed in geo-strategic terms. But how  much of that rhetoric is reflected in actual policy choices by the EU or  its trading partners? This book provides a first systematic study of  the broader international context in which EU trade agreements are  conceived, negotiated, and designed. Building on a refined  conceptualisation of geo-economics, the book develops a cogent framework  that combines insights from scholarship on the design of free trade  agreements with ideas from foreign policy analysis. Empirically, the  analysis focuses on the relations between the EU and the Asia-Pacific.  Following the United States’ pivot to Asia and the EU’s Global Europe  strategy, China’s backyard has become the main arena in which global  powers’ geo-economic strategies overlap. Building on a series of  case-studies, combining the perspectives from the EU and its trading  partners, the book shows that the rhetoric of geo-economic competition  is yet to catch up with the actual negotiation and design of free trade  agreements. This volume will be of great interest to scholars, students  and practitioners who want to gain a holistic understanding of  contemporary trade negotiations.