The Evolving Role of Sub-national Actors in International Trade Interactions: A Comparative Analysis of Belgium and Canada

Abstract

At present, sub-national actors enjoy varied degrees of acceptance within the various frameworks for international trade interactions of their home states. This is mainly due to the reality that there is a growing intersection between sub-national, national and international policy arenas, making the policy space increasingly difficult to delineate neatly. More so, with international norms still opposed to the participation of sub-national actors in the international scene, most of the actions taken by these actors are classified as ‘wholly domestic policies’, which their central governments are mandated to ensure are in conformity with international obligations. This has made the mapping and understanding of sub-national foreign engagement difficult to conceptualise in a coherent manner. Focusing on Belgium and Canada, this paper seeks to ascertain: whether there are any coherent themes deducible in the way we conceptualise emerging patterns of engagement by sub-national actors in international trade relations.

Trade contestation and regional politics: The case of Belgium and Germany

“…Eschbach, 2015). In some cases, national parliaments vote to ratify the agreement, in other cases, trade policy takes place in multilevel settings where subnational jurisdictions play an increasingly crucial role in shaping and legitimizing trade pacts, from monitoring negotiating mandates to authorizing ratification of agreed texts (Fafard and Leblond, 2013;Omiunu, 2017;Broschek and Goff, 2020). Thus, mixed agreementsthose that touch on the competences of member statesoffer the opportunity for national and subnational parliaments to influence trade policy through parliamentary scrutiny, and such scrutiny and oversight have been perceived as necessary safeguards in federal systems.…”