New Trade Deals: New Danger
The Trade Justice Campaign on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs)

Introducing the campaign
More information: coalition member EPAs campaign sites and in-depth resources 

Introducing the campaign

Global trade talks in the so-called Doha ‘development’ round at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have failed to deliver any meaningful progress on trade justice. Yet the WTO is not the only negotiations where trade justice is being blocked by rich country governments.   

The UK, with its partners in Europe, is part of pushing unfair trade deals on 76 former colonies -some of the poorest countries in the world. In 2005, in response to your calls to make poverty history, the UK Government promised to do all it can to make trade work for the poor. Yet, despite these statements, the UK has allowed the European Union (EU) to push ahead on deals that are unfair to countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP).

The deals are called Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and were meant to herald a new era of ‘partnership’ between the EU and ACP countries. These deals were to replace the previous trading arrangement which allowed ACP countries preferential access into the EU market without having to return the same access to the EU. The previous arrangement had been challenged by other developing nations at the WTO and the EU and ACP were given until 2007 to come up with an alternative arrangement.

The lives of 750 million of the world's poorest people are in the balance as poor farmers and vulnerable producers will be forced into direct competition with rich nations. We must stop these unfair trade deals before Africa and poor countries worldwide are forced to trade away their future.

Many ACP countries have protested at both the manner and substance of the EU negotiations throughout this process but had to engage in negotiations to meet a WTO deadline or face higher tariffs.

The EU has not listened to the concerns of poor countries in these negotiations. The EU’s aggressive trade agenda, negotiating tactics and desperate desire to reach any agreements in late 2007 has sown the seeds for economic chaos in the long-term if issues aren’t resolved.  

At the EU – Africa Summit, African countries vented their anger at European leaders with many countries not signing by the 31 December 2007 deadline because of their concern about the deals and are pressing on the EU to come up with better deals.

Your campaigning, with others throughout the world, has allowed greater attention of these deals and more pressure being brought to bear on European governments on these trade deals. The European Commission has being forced to defend its position from criticism from a wide range of commentators, civil society groups and international bodies.

The Trade Justice Movement is campaigning on EPAs and calling on the UK Government to use its full influence to stop these deals going ahead, to listen to the serious concerns of poor countries and work with those countries to develop new deals that will help deliver trade justice. It is still not too late to stop these unfair trade deals from destroying economies, jobs and livelihoods and for the UK Government to make good on its 2005 position statement.

Get involved by taking action and finding out more. Be part of the growing campaign across Europe and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries affected by these unfair trade deals.

See what happened at the Trade Justice Action on 19 April 2007 in London when our groundbreaking event took the trade justice message to every London embassy of the European Union as well as the UK Department of Trade and Industry and the European Commission. Click here.

More information

For more information on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), see the following websites of member organisations of the Trade Justice Movement.

ACTSA
Christian Aid
Traidcraft

In-depth resources  

The new EPAs: comparative analysis of their content and the challenges for 2008 Overseas Development Institute (March 2008)

Briefing papers from our member organisations

The following is a selection of recent and/or informative background papers on EPAs:  
Latest and highly recommended

Oxfam (April 2008) Partnership or Powerplay? - How Europe should bring development into its trade deals with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries 

Tearfund, Traidcraft, Christian Aid, ActionAid and CAFOD (May 2007)
Partnership under Pressure: An assessment of the European Commission's conduct in the current Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) negotiations

Traidcraft (May 2007)
Economic Partnership Agreements: Building or shattering African regional integration?

ActionAid ‘The Trade Escape: WTO rules and alternatives to free trade Economic Partnership Agreements’ (September 2005)

ActionAid ‘Trade Traps: Why EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements pose a threat to Africa’s development’ (December 2004)  

ACTSA, Traidcraft and TUC New Deals, New Danger. EPAs: A Threat to Workers (January 2007)

Cafod ‘The Wrong Ointment: Why the EU's proposals for free trade with Africa will not heal its scar of poverty’ (December 2004)

Christian Aid ‘For richer or poorer: transforming economic partnerships between Europe and Africa’ (May 2005)

Oxfam ‘Unequal Partners: How EU–ACP Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) could harm the development prospects of many of the world’s poorest countries’ (September 2006)

Friends of the Earth: ‘Corporate Conquest Why the UK and its EU partners must stop forcing Economic Partnership September 2006 Agreements (EPAs) upon developing countries’ (September 2006)  

Tearfund ‘Much to lose, little to gain: Assessing EPAs from the perspective of Malawi’ (January 2007)

Tearfund ‘EPAs Policy Briefing’ (August 2006)  – an in-depth look at the issues, what campaigners are calling for and why

See also Cafod ‘What Does the Commission for Africa say about EPAs?’

See also Christian Aid, Oxfam, Traidcraft and others ‘Six Reasons to Oppose EPAs in their Current Form’ (November 2004)

UK Government
UK Government statement on EPAs with Denmark , Ireland , and the Netherlands calling for more flexibility from the EC   

UK Government response to campaign concerns on EPAs (December 2007)

Economic Partnership Agreements: Making EPAs Deliver for Development (22 March 2005) UK Government position paper on EPAs published after public pressure and sustained campaigning from the Trade Justice Movement and the supporters of its member organisations

Ministerial Statement to the H ouse of Commons on EPAs (16 February 2006) Then Trade Minister, Ian Pearson, updates Parliament  

Response to the campaign on Economic Partnership Agreements (July 2006) Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for International Development, responds to concerned citizens taking action