ABSTRACT

In recent years, debate about the distributive consequences of trade liberalisation has intensified on both sides of the Atlantic. Within the European Union (EU), a strong politicisation of trade policy occurred in the wake of the launch of negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the United States (US). These talks were effectively portrayed by critics of the agreements as ‘made for and by big business’, a master frame that succeeded in bringing together a broad coalition of civil society organisations. In this article, we show how the European Commission developed and communicated a counter-frame stipulating that TTIP and similar trade agreements are inclusive of and especially valuable to small firms. Based on a framing analysis of official documents and speeches, we analyse the rationale of this frame and how it has been communicated through story-telling. We show that this positive frame has only partially been mirrored in the positions of associations representing small firms themselves. The debate on the inclusive benefits and redistributive effects of trade agreements, including between enterprises of different sizes, continues within academia, politics, and society.

摘要

近年来，关于大西洋两岸贸易自由化的分配后果的争论日益激烈。在欧洲联盟（EU）内部，与美国（US）展开跨大西洋贸易和投资伙伴关系（TTIP）谈判之后，贸易政策发生了强烈的政治化。这些协议的批评者将这些谈话有效地描绘为“为大企业而造”，这是一个成功的框架，成功地将民间社会组织的广泛联盟聚集在一起。在本文中，我们展示了欧盟委员会如何制定和传达一个反框架，该框架规定TTIP和类似的贸易协定包括小企业，并且对小企业特别有价值。根据对官方文件和演讲的成帧分析，我们将分析此框架的原理以及如何通过讲故事进行交流。我们表明，这种积极的框架仅部分反映了代表小企业本身的协会的地位。在学术界，政治界和社会内部，关于贸易协定的包容性利益和再分配效果的辩论，包括规模不同的企业之间的辩论，仍在继续。