Resumen de The European Union's Trade Policy Response to the Crisis: Paradigm lost or reinforced?
This paper critically examines the European Union`s (EU) trade policy response to the global financial and economic crisis. Contrary to what would be expected, we find that the EU`s neoliberal trade paradigm, as frankly presented in the 2006 Global Europe strategy, has not been delegitimized. The neoliberal (dis-)course has even been reinforced. First, we theorize on the conditions for paradigmatic change and the importance of framing in the delegitimization phase. Second, we analyze the Commission`s framing of the crisis, amounting to (i) a downplaying of the nature of the crisis to a crisis in the financial subsystem of global capitalism; (ii) an emphasis on the danger of protectionism that would worsen the crisis and lead to a 1930s Great Depression scenario; and (iii) advocation for further trade liberalization as a contribution to European and global recovery. Third, we show that this has been translated in practice such as through the limited use of anti-dumping measures and ever more ambitious trade agreements as with Korea. Finally, we explain why the crisis has not led to a delegitimization of the existing trade paradigm, pointing to the absence of a workable alternative paradigm, the role of European social democratic parties and the labour movement, and the interests of transnational business.
