EU-West Africa Trade Deal is Not Everybody’s Success Story

On January 24, 2014, West African and European Commission negotiators reached agreement on all outstanding negotiating issues of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), thereby breaking an impasse that had persisted since 2007. The aim of the negotiations was to create a free trade area between the EU and the African region (among others). Though the EU has celebrated the recent deal as a breakthrough for West African development, it has little value.

Attempts to use the EPA to lock in reforms that address the region’s economic challenges have largely failed as the deal does not resolve the conflict between both sides’ different visions of trade policy as a tool for development. As a consequence, there is no real buy-in from the West African side. Worse, even after more than 10 years of negotiations, the agreement may come too early. The regional approach to trade policy making of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is still not clearly mapped out. It is therefore possible that negotiated commitments will not match the region’s future trade policy priorities.

To read the rest of this piece, please visit the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development website ↪ .