European trade diplomacy and the politics of global development: Reflections on the EU-China 'bra wars' dispute

Government and Opposition

Volumn 42, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 190-214

  Heron, Tony ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 33947193038     PISSN: 0017257X     EISSN: 14777053     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1477-7053.2007.00218.x     Document Type: Article

References (59)

1. M. Holland, The European Union and the Third World, London, Palgrave, 2002.
2. See, for example, J. Grugel, 'New Regionalism and Modes of Governance Comparing US and EU Strategies in Latin America', European Journal of International Relations, 10: 4 (2004), pp. 603-29.
3. V. K. Aggarwal, Liberal Protectionism: The International Politics of Organised Textile Trade, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1985, p. 82.
4. Ibid.
5. This anomaly was due, at least in part, to the delay between the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 and the actual establishment of the Custom Union, which was not formally adopted until 1968. For more details, see A. R. Young, Extending European Cooperation: The European Union and the 'New' International Trade Agenda, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2002, pp. 21-7.
6. J. De la Torre and M. Bacchetta, 'The Uncommon Market: European Policies Towards the Clothing Industry in the 1970s', Journal of Common Market Studies, 19: 2 (1980), pp. 95-122.
7. Ibid., p. 98.
8. M. B. Dolan, 'European Restructuring and Import Policies for a Textile Industry in Crisis', International Organisation, 37: 4 (1983), p. 589.
9. De la Torre and Bacchetta, 'The Uncommon Market', p. 98.
10. Dolan, 'European Restructuring and Import Policies for a Textile Industry in Crisis', p. 591.
11. Aggarwal, Liberal Protectionism, esp. ch. 6.
12. W. R. Cline, The Future of World Trade in Textiles and Apparel, revised edition, Washington, DC, Institute for International Economics, 1990, p. 156.
13. B. Hoekman and M. Kostecki, The Political Economy of the World Trading System: The WTO and Beyond, 2nd edn, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 229.
14. Personal interviews: Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Geneva, Switzerland, October 2004; and the European Commission, Brussels, Belgium, September-October 2003 and October 2004.
15. T. Heron, The Ending of the Multifibre Arrangement: A Development Boon for the South?', European Journal of Development Research, 18: 1 (2006), pp. 4-5.
16. G. R. D. Underbill, Industrial Crisis and the Open Economy: Politics, Global Trade and the Textiles Industry in the Advanced Economies, London, Macmillan-Palgrave, 1998, ch. 5.
17. B. Hanson, 'What Happened to Fortress Europe?: External Trade Policy Liberalization in the European Union', International Organisation, 52: 1 (1998), pp. 55-85.
18. M. Ugur, 'Explaining Protectionism and Liberalization in the European Union Trade Policy: The Case of Textiles and Clothing', Journal of European Public Policy, 5: 4 (1998), pp. 652-70.
19. European Commission, 'The Future of the Textiles and Clothing Sector in the Enlarged European Union', Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Brussels, European Commission, 2003.
20. Ibid., p. 4.
21. 'Chinese Textile Exports Surge; US, EU to Invoke Textile Safeguard?', Bridges Weekly Trade Neivs Digest, 9: 11 (2005): available at: http://www.ictsd.org/subscribe/index.htm.
22. G. Dyer and R. Minder, 'EU and China in Textile Truce', Financial Times, 10 June 2005.
23. This section is based partly on discussions with Anja Lörcher, trade lawyer, Foreign Trade Association, Brussels, Belgium, 10 November 2005.
24. 'Textile Trouble', The Economist, 3 September 2005.
25. See, for example, P. Willets, The Low-Paid are the Victims of Textile Protectionism', Financial Times, 24 August 2005.
26. International Labour Organization (ILO), Promoting Fair Globalisation in Textiles and Clothing in a Post-MFA Environment, Geneva, ILO, 2005, p. 16.
27. J. François and D. Spinanger, 'Textile Scramble is a Circus Disguised as a Crisis', Financial Times, 6 September 2005.
28. The obvious question of why the developing countries were willing to agree to the backloading of the ATC needs to be understood within the overall context of the bargaining dynamics of the Uruguay Round, and in terms of the institutional practices of the GATT/WTO system that have evolved over time. Unfortunately, these issues go well beyond the scope of the present article. For a detailed account of the negotiation of the ATC, see M. Raffaelli and T. Jenkins, The Drafting History of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, Geneva, International Textiles and Clothing Bureau, 1995.
29. M. Williams, K. Yuk-Choi and S. Yan, 'Bonanza or Mirage? Textiles and China's Accession to the WTO, Journal of World Trade, 36; 3 (2002), p. 580.
30. Personal interviews: International Textile and Clothing Bureau (ITCB), Geneva, Switzerland, October 2004.
31. See Oxfam International, Rigged Rules and Double Standards: Trade, Globalisation and the Fight Against Global Poverty, London, Oxfam, 2002.
32. Financial Times, 14 June 2005. This prediction was later proven to be correct, at least in so far as the footwear industry was concerned. In February 2006 the Commission announced that a 20 per cent 'anti-dumping' import duty would be applied to leather shoes from China and Vietnam. See Financial Times, 22 February 2006.
33. See World Trade Organization, Accession of the People's Republic of China, Geneva, WTO, WT/L/423, 2001, pp. 9-10.
34. S. Breslin, 'Reforming China's Embedded Socialist Compromise: China and the WTO', Global Change, Peace & Security, 15: 3 (2003), pp. 213-29.
35. Ibid., p. 218.
36. Under Article VI of the ATC, all WTO members are permitted to use the 'transitional safeguard mechanism' in order to restrict imports temporarily from any source which may 'cause serious damage, or actual threat thereof, to the domestic industry producing like and/or directly competitive products'. However, this trade sanction is limited in scope and far more difficult to invoke than either the 'product-specific' or the 'textile-specific' safeguard measures contained in China's accession agreement.
37. See A. Beattie and E. Alden, Tight Rules are Keeping a Lid on Trade Wars', Financial Times, 6 June 2005.
38. See, among others, R. Kaplinsky, Globalization, Poverty and Inequality, Cambridge, Polity, 2005.
39. Heron, 'The Ending of the Multifibre Arrangement', p. 11.
40. Oxfam International, Studied Up: How Rich-Country Protectionism in Textiles and Clothing Trade Prevents Poverty Alleviation, Oxfam Briefing Paper, London, Oxfam, 2004, p. 16.
41. See, for example, M. Wolf, 'Cooperation or Conflict? The European Union in a Liberal Global Economy', International Affairs, 71 (1995), pp. 327-37.
42. Hanson, 'What Happened to Fortress Europe?'.
43. Indeed, one analyst has gone as far as to suggest that the EU is now the most consistent and important advocate of multilateralism, due to a marked decline in the willingness and ability of the USA to underwrite the international trading system. See S. Woolcock, 'European Trade Policy', in H. Wallace and W. Wallace (eds), Policy-Making in the European Union, 4th edn, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 273-399.
44. B. Rosamond, 'Europe', in A.J. Payne (ed.), The New Regional Politics of Development, London, Palgrave, 2004, pp. 59-88.
45. I. Manners, 'Normative Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms?', Journal of Common Market Studies, 40: 2 (2002), pp. 235-58.
46. Cf. R. Whitman, From Civilian Power to Superpower? The International Identity of the European Union, London, Macmillan-Palgrave, 1998.
47. Rosamond, 'Europe', p. 81.
48. Ibid., p. 79.
49. M. Tempest, 'EU Reach "Breakthrough" on Aid Budget', Guardian, 24 May 2005. It is worth adding in parentheses that quite a few European countries have already gone beyond this aim to meet - and in some cases exceed - the UN target of 0.7 per cent that was established in 1970: Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark reached this figure in the 1970s, Luxembourg in 2000, while other member states, including the UK, France, Belgium, Finland and Spain, have pledged to meet it by 2015. By way of contrast, the USA currently spends approximately 0.16 per cent of GNI on development assistance, Japan 0.19 per cent, while the overall OECD average stands at 0.25 per cent. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 'Official Development Assistance Increases Further - But 2006 Targets Still a Challenge', press release, available at: http://www.oecd.org/document/3/0,2340, en_2649_34447_ 34700611_1_1_1_1,00.html.
50. The EU's preferential trading system is not without its critics. Paul Brenton, for example, has drawn attention to the very stringent 'rules of origin' attached to the trade agreements that have the perverse effect of actually discouraging eligible developing countries from taking up preferences in the first place. Likewise, the Lomé Convention and the Cotonou Agreement have been criticized for targeting aid for the most part at developing countries with strong colonial links to Europe at the expense of other, equally poor, states that do not have this historical connection. See, respectively, P. Brenton, 'Integrating the Least Developed Countries into the World Trading System: The Current Impact of EU Preferences under Everything But Arms', World Bank Policy Research Paper, No. 3018, 2003; and Holland, The European Union and the Third World.
51. Ibid.
52. P. Mandelson, 'Rich Nations Must Do More to Help the Poor', Independent, 27 December 2004.
53. World Trade Organization (WTO), Doha Ministerial Declaration, Geneva, WTO, WT/MIN (01)/DEC/1, 2001, pp. 3-4.
54. R. P. Appelbaum, 'Assessing the Impact of the Phasing-out of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing on Apparel Exports on the Least Developed and Developing Countries', Center for Global Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, 2004, p. 37.
55. Personal interviews: European Commission, Brussels, Belgium, September-October 2003.
56. See, for example, P. Mandelson, 'What the EU Can Expect from the WTO', Le Figaro, 27 November 2005.
57. Oxfam International, Stitched Up, p. 12.
58. See, for example, T. Heron, 'An Unravelling Development Strategy? Garment Assembly in the Caribbean Basin after the Multifibre Arrangement', Bulletin of Latin American Research, 25: 2 (2006), pp. 264-81.
59. Rosamond, 'Europe'.