Law and Trade

Should European consumers be free to order from Shein even if it means unsafe products, environmental damage, and unfair labour practices? Should the EU impose carbon tariffs on Chinese steel? Can democracies use trade sanctions as geopolitical weapons, and at what cost? Trade law sits at the intersection of economics, geopolitics, and values. This course examines how the ideal of free trade has been translated into legal regimes, and how those regimes are now under unprecedented strain. Starting with the architecture of the EU internal market (the four freedoms, harmonisation, proportionality), you will then zoom out to the multilateral trading system (WTO principles, dispute settlement) and the new generation of bilateral agreements (CETA, EU-Mercosur). The course then turns to the new frontiers of trade law: the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), digital trade governance (cross-border data flows, platform regulation), trade sanctions as foreign policy tools, and supply chain due diligence obligations. Throughout, you will analyse legal texts and court decisions from the perspective of multiple stakeholders, businesses navigating regulatory complexity, states balancing sovereignty and openness, citizens affected by trade-offs they rarely chose, and trading partners with competing interests. The goal is not to train trade lawyers, but to equip future leaders with the legal literacy to navigate a world where trade is inseparable from politics.