| Summary: | Introduction The envisioned Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU figures prominently in the competitive regionalism strategies that mark the relationship between the United States (US) and the European Union (EU). Following the conclusion of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the EU negotiated a free trade agreement (FTA) with Mexico in 1999 (Dür 2007) and now seeks to establish another foothold in the North American market with a partnership agreement with Canada. The EU’s recent turn to bilateral and regional trade negotiations marks an important break with the multilateral commitment and its interest in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Doha Round, championed by former EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy. The current CETA talks thus have to be studied in the context of EU trade policy-making in general. Who is behind the political decision to engage in bilateral trade talks? What explains the move from multilateralism to FTAs such as the EU-Canada agreement? In all industrialized countries, domestic support for such initiatives is tepid – in part because the public perceives that these agreements benefit big business rather than workers or the general public. In the EU, the multi-level nature of trade policy further complicates the definition of common objectives: are the member states the drivers of EU trade policy or do the supranational institutions, and in particular the European Commission, determine the goals and the scope of external negotiations? Understanding the CETA negotiations between Canada and the EU necessitates untangling who scripts European trade policy. Presenting the literature on trade policy-making in the EU, this chapter spells out the tensions between supranationalists, which underline the role of the Commission, and intergovermentalists, who insist on the high degree of control of the member states. In particular, I show where they disagree about the autonomy of the supranational authorities, the effective control of member states ...
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