EU's New FTA Strategy: A Response to the Transformation of World Economy and Its Implications

Since the EU published the Communication of “Global Europe: Competing in the world” in 2006, EU’s practice in free trade agreements (FTAs) has been a remarkable phenomenon. It does not only involve the EU’s trade preferences, but it also has some impacts on the development of international trade rules and international trade order. The main purpose of the EU’s new FTAs is to maintain and further enhance the EU’s competitiveness and to gain more from the world economic growth. To achieve this objective, the EU has being tried to get involved multiple strategies. It should be noticed that the EU’s FTAs strategy and practice do not only have impacts on the EU itself, but also, inevitably, they have some geopolitical implications. Although it is understandable that the EU is trying to pursue its own objectives by negotiating new FTAs, it cannot be neglected the potential negative effects of the EU’s FTA strategy on the development of world economy.