The Temporal Context of Trade Deals: Negotiating the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement
Frennhoff Larsen, M. 2026. The Temporal Context of Trade Deals: Negotiating the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement. International Negotiation.
Frennhoff Larsen, M. 2026. The Temporal Context of Trade Deals: Negotiating the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement. International Negotiation.
| Title | The Temporal Context of Trade Deals: Negotiating the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Frennhoff Larsen, M. |
| Abstract | The paper analyses the temporal context of trade negotiations through an in-depth case study of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations between the European Union and Japan, demonstrating how these negotiations were heavily influenced by past and concurrent negotiations. The analysis provides evidence of strong reliance on precedents by both parties, and building on arguments relating to time- and resource-saving motivations, ratification considerations, and trade diversion concerns, it offers qualitative insights into how this precedent-based approach played out during these relatively balanced negotiations between two major economic powers with extensive negotiating experience and capacities. The analysis also demonstrates how both parties’ concurrent negotiations with the United States influenced the dynamics and outcome of the EPA negotiations through coordination and position management by the negotiating teams, and through geo-economic pressures. The paper makes a novel contribution through its analytical framework, which structures arguments about temporal linkages across three levels of analysis. |
| Keywords | European Union, Japan, trade negotiations, precedents, temporal context |
| Journal | International Negotiation |
| ISSN | 1382-340X |
| 1571-8069 | |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publisher | Brill |
| Accepted author manuscript | File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |