The dynamic in EU/US trade relations has changed. 2021 heralded the first in a series of announcements ending long-running EU/US Trade disputes (Airbus/Boeing; Steel/Aluminum). That trend has continued in early 2022 (shellfish). With work progressing under the TTC, and a political promise to work together to address greenhouse emissions, the question arises as to how far this “positive agenda” will go? Could this foster alignment on other social concerns?

Addressing forced labour through trade policy is a potential candidate for collaboration.

In March 2020, the EU launched its Africa Strategy, identifying “boosting trade and sustainable investments in Africa” as one of its priority action areas. The Strategy also states the Union will provide “political, technical and financial support for the African Continental Free Trade Agreement” and reaffirms the shared interest in “a stable, rules-based multilateral trading system centred on the World Trade Organisation”. Green growth, green finance and sustainable agriculture also feature prominently.

One year later (in March 2021), the European Parliament proposed a new EU-Africa partnership. Building on an own initiative report, the Parliament calls for adjustments in the light of the impacts of the coronavirus.

The EU Action Plan 'Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil' (let’s call it the “ZPAP”) has the objective of:

“including pollution prevention in all relevant EU policies.”

Given the transboundary and cross-cutting nature of pollution, it’s unsurprising that many of the measures canvassed have an external dimension. Here’s an overview of how some of the pathways to ‘zero pollution’ may interact with the EU’s ‘green’ trade policy.

China is talking the talk on climate change, but its buy-in to the ‘green trade’ narrative is more selective. It eschews many of the green trade tools favoured by the EU/US, its policies are closer aligned to developing countries and serve its regional interests. Still, it has its own tools to add to the global ‘green trade’ toolkit: green tech, green manufactured goods and improved efficiency of supply chains are potential contributions to a global ‘green trade’ strategy. As things stand, it looks set to follow its own path and has yet to set out what shade of ‘green’ it wants its future trading profile to be.