Research areas

European Trade Policy

Trade policy is one of the key areas of co-operation in the European Union. As a customs union, the EU is responsible for external trade policy and these policies are largely formed in Brussels. Pillared on the four freedoms and the single market, the EU has been a force for progressive liberalisation of trade and economic integration – in Europe as well as globally. But many trade and regulatory barriers to cross-border movements remain in place. Agricultural trade is still heavily distorted by tariffs, subsidies and regulations. There are still significant barriers in industrial and commodity trade. Services trade is hampered by regulations and other non-tariff barriers, and the efforts to create a single market for services in the EU fell short of initial ambitions. Trade defence instruments, such as antidumping duties, are still frequently used. In this research programme we intend to analyse recent, current, and future policies—and in particular subject various parts of European trade policy to rigorous scrutiny of costs and benefits.

• EU and Services Trade Liberalisation

• EU Antidumping Policy

• EU Policies in the WTO

• EU Regulatory Policy

• EU Trade Policy Reviews

• MEP "Trade Watch"

• Single Market Policy

• The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)

• Trade and European Competitiveness

• Trade Policy and EU Enlargement

• Trade Policy and the Lisbon Agenda

International Trade Policy

The global multilateral trading system, based on the post-war creation of the GATT in 1947, has delivered progressive liberalisations of international trade. But now it is in dire straits. Its future relevance as a vehicle for trade liberalisation is challenged by the collapse of the Doha round. Many countries are concentrating their minds on regional or bilateral free trade agreements, but few of the hitherto achieved preferential trade agreements have led to any major liberalisations. At least as important, efforts to unilaterally liberalise trade and investment policies have slowed down considerably in the new millennium, particularly in the developing countries. In this research programme we will research global, regional and unilateral trade policies, and discuss policy alternatives that will revive a trade-liberalisation agenda.

• Dispute Settlement Policy

• Free Trade Agreements

• Infant Industry Protectionism

• International Trade Rules

• The Doha Round

• The WTO after Doha

• Trade and Education

• Trade and Health Care

• Trade Defence Instruments

• Trade in Services

• Unilateral Trade Reforms

International Political Economy

Many of the current intergovernmental organisations for economic affairs were created after the Second World War to underpin a world order that does not any longer exist. Some of them are on the brink of irrelevance; some of them are discussing organisational reforms. The case for global economic co-operation remains strong, but the current structure of “global economic governance” suffers from several structural weaknesses. Their core missions of economic reform, trade and regulatory liberalisation, economic development – and providing an institutional framework for a world economic order conducive to globalisation—have been diluted. The links between intergovernmental organisations and national policy-reform agendas are particularly missing. In this research programme we will analyse global economic institutions – their structure and effectiveness—and provide perspectives on what the changing economic order means to economic policy co-operation.

• African Economic Reform

• Development Policies

• Foreign Aid

• Global Economic Governance: G-8, OECD, UNCTAD

• Intellectual Property Rights

• Investment and Competition Policy

• Regulatory Policy

• The Rise of Asia

• The Role of NGOs

• Transatlantic Economic Cooperation

• World Bank and IMF reform