Home> Archive> 2024> Volume 14, Number 3, 2024
IJSSH 2024 Vol.14(3): 130-138
doi: 10.18178/ijssh.2024.14.3.1205

Political Perspectives on EU’s Trade Policy Shift towards New Zealand in von der Leyen’s Commission: Enlarged Indo-Pacific Engagement, Practice of New Generation FTA, and Reiteration of Liberal Order

Yun-Chen Lai

Department of Public Administration, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan, China
Email: yunchen.lai@gms.ndhu.edu.tw
Manuscript received November 17, 2023; revised December 13, 2023; accepted February 27, 2024; published June 21, 2024.
Abstract—New Zealand and the European Union (EU) share a rich history marked by significant exchanges of people, goods, capital, ideas, and institutional ties. However, in the late 2000s, the EU displayed reluctance to institutionalize its trade relations with New Zealand, primarily due to the limited appeal of the New Zealand market and the EU’s protective stance on its agriculture market. A significant shift in the EU occurred in the
late 2010s, coinciding with von der Leyen’s term in office. While maintaining its economic concerns, the EU softened its approach to the economic agreement with New Zealand and initiated negotiations on the EU-NZ FTA. This study explores the factors behind the shift in the EU’s trade policy towards New Zealand, examining them through three prominent IR theories: realism, liberalism, and social constructivism. This study concludes that the EU-NZ FTA holds significance for the global trading system, serving as a potential model for future EU FTAs.

Keywords—EU-New Zealand FTA, EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy, liberal order, new generation FTA, WTO+FTA

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Cite: Yun-Chen Lai, "Political Perspectives on EU’s Trade Policy Shift towards New Zealand in von der Leyen’s Commission: Enlarged Indo-Pacific Engagement, Practice of New Generation FTA, and Reiteration of Liberal Order," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 130-138, 2024.

Copyright © 2024 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).

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