EU Trade Policy as Protection for Exporters: The Agreements with Mexico and Chile*

Abstract Recently, the EU concluded trade agreements with emerging markets in different regions of the world. What explains the EU's pursuit of these agreements? I present an argument that suggests that exporters in the EU mobilize in response to discrimination abroad and push the EU to conclude trade agreements to protect their foreign market access. In two case studies, I show that this protection‐for‐exporters argument offers a plausible account for the EU's agreements with Mexico and Chile.