Continuity in times of geoeconomic change: the European Union’s strategic trade relations with the Global South

Various authors depict the rise of geoeconomics as an unprecedented shift in European Union (EU) trade policy, highlighting the entanglement of trade and security goals in a ‘geoeconomic’ agenda that sidelines sustainable development. While capturing new dynamics in EU trade relations with major economies, it remains unclear whether it also applies to long-standing asymmetrical relations with the Global South. We therefore ask in what way the EU’s ‘geoeconomic turn’ entails continuity or change for the EU’s strategic trade relations with the Global South. Based on a comparative historical analysis of three landmark cases: the Lomé I Convention (1975), the Economic Partnership Agreements (2000), and Strategic Trade Agreements (2015), we argue that, despite differences, the EU has consistently leveraged trade power vis-à-vis the Global South for strategic purposes, combining trade and security considerations, while subordinating (sustainable) development objectives. The ‘geoeconomic turn’ is therefore not as dramatic a shift as often claimed.