Връщане към протекционизма: търговските бариери спрямо Европейския съюз и „новата рамка“ на преференциални търговски споразумения
A return to protectionism: trade barriers towards the European Union and the “new framework” of preferential trade agreements

Author(s): Eduard Marinov
Subject(s): Economy, Supranational / Global Economy, Business Economy / Management
Published by: Нов български университет
Keywords: liberalization; protectionism; trade barriers; preferential trade agreements; EU
Summary/Abstract: Along with changes in multilateral trade regulation at the global level over the past decades, many of the bilateral and multilateral preferential and free trade arrangements of some of the world‘s largest players have been transformed, perhaps most notably the change in EU trade policy. The EU‘s competitiveness is declining, squeezed by American and Asian competition. For years, a number of researchers have questioned whether there is an implicit impulse for protectionism hidden behind the tariff and non-tariff liberalization clauses put forward in all new EU agreements, as well as in the Union‘s participation in various formats of multilateral trade negotiations. On the other hand, the introduction of protectionist measures implemented by many countries around the world is increasingly being observed – not only hidden (in the area of non-tariff restrictions), but also direct (tariffs introduced after the Global financial crisis by Russia, Ukraine, Ecuador; EU, Brazil, India, Turkey, Vietnam, etc.; the US trade „war“, etc.). Even before Covid (in the end of 2019), the EU‘s market access database recorded 438 active trade and investment barriers in 58 third countries. This record value, together with the increasing duration of a number of barriers, is indicative not only of increasing protectionism, but also of the fact that protectionism is becoming structurally embedded in the Union‘s trade relations with many partners. In order to summarize and clarify these trends in the development and restructuring of the global trade system and the EU‘s place in it, the paper first examines the pre-pandemic trade barriers vis-à-vis the EU, and then assesses the „new framework“ of bilateral and multilateral preferential trade agreements in the EU trade policy.

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