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，关于贸易自由化分配后果的争论在大西洋两岸愈演愈烈。在欧盟 (EU) 内部，在与美国 (US) 启动跨大西洋贸易和投资伙伴关系 (TTIP) 谈判之后，贸易政策出现了强烈的政治化。这些谈判被协议的批评者有效地描述为“为大企业制定并由大企业制定”，这是一个成功地将广泛的民间社会组织联盟聚集在一起的主要框架。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，规定 TTIP 和类似的贸易协定对小企业具有包容性并且对小企业特别有价值。基于对官方文件和演讲的框架分析，我们分析了这个框架的基本原理以及它是如何通过讲故事来传达的。我们表明，这种积极的框架仅部分反映在代表小公司本身的协会的立场上。关于贸易协定的包容性利益和再分配效应的争论，包括不同规模的企业之间的争论，在学术界、政界和社会中仍在继续。