Preferential trade agreements as transitional justice

• Pages: 359-383
• Date: 01 October 2024
• Published date: 01 October 2024
• Author: Alexis Jori Shanes
• Subject Matter: Derecho Internacional

PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AS

TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE

ALEXIS JORI SHANES*

ABSTRACT

Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) are deals between two or more trading

partners. Unlike multilateral trade agreements, PTAs give states the latitude to

pursue policy goals not traditionally part of trade infrastructure. This Note

explores the possibility of PTAs as a form of transitional justice: the processes,

mechanisms, and institutions that help post-conf‌lict communities transition

away from the legacies of human rights atrocities and toward more equitable,

peaceful societal structures. This Note asks whether PTAs can speak to the

needs of post-conf‌lict communities in an era when scholars and practitioners

are pushing the boundaries of trade and transitional justice alike.

Although PTAs are increasingly used to facilitate connections between trade

and human rights, much of their potential remains untapped. Despite their

popularity, PTAs are not incorporated into transitional justice efforts.

However, the economic strengths and coercive elements in PTAs could f‌ill gaps

typically seen in traditional transitional justice efforts. Less certain is how to

design and implement PTAs such that they benef‌it survivors of human rights

atrocities.

Part II of this Note explores how PTAs may be “deepened” to address human

rights issues and other non-trade objectives. Part III delineates the settings for

and forms of transitional justice, noting where existing processes, mechanisms,

and institutions fall short. Part IV fuses these elements, arguing that PTAs’

resource-rich and coercive qualities justify their introduction into transitional

justice frameworks. It further argues that PTAs can be framed in two ways rele-

vant to transitional justice: as a means of integrating human rights into trade,

and as an alternative means of state power. Part IV then suggests facilitating a

trade-transitional justice merger through three means: negotiations, policymak-

ing, and economics. Finally, Part V considers case studies in Ukraine and Iraq

to illustrate how PTAs could function as transitional justice.

* Georgetown University, J.D. 2024; Northwestern University, M.S. 2019; Oklahoma State

University, B.S. 2017. Luca Rubini (Torino, CTLS) encouraged this project and provided

thoughtful feedback on f‌irst drafts. Jane Stromseth and David Tolbert (Georgetown) inspired me

to focus my practice and scholarship on transitional justice. GJIL staff performed the careful edits

necessary to f‌inalize this piece. Special thanks to the White House press corps, Team DDS, and my

family—especially Miles, Mom and Dad, Samuel, Audie, Grandma, Mell, and Angel—for

sustaining me throughout law school. Any errors are mine. V

C 2025, Alexis Jori Shanes.

359

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

II. PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTS IN THE WTO ERA . . . . . . . . . 362

A. Deep Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

B. PTAs and Human Rights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

III. THE NEW TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

A. Settings for Transitional Justice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

B. Evolving Possibilities for Transitional Justice . . . . . . . . . . . 370

IV. TRADE AS TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

A. Negotiations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

B. Policymaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

C. Economics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

V. CASE STUDIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

A. Ukraine: Interstate Conf‌lict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

B. Iraq: Non-State Actor Conf‌lict. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

VI. CONCLUSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

I. INTRODUCTION

The modern trade environment is a peace project.

1

The Agreement

Establishing the World Trade Organization Agreement (WTO)

2

and its

predecessor, the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT),

3

were driven by the need to promote peace and cooperation following

WWII.

4

The WTO Can . . . Contribute to Peace and Stability, WTO, https://www.wto.org/english/

thewto_e/whatis_e/10thi_e/10thi09_e.htm (last visited Nov. 21, 2024).

These two premier multilateral trade deals had only a few goals: lib-

eralize trade, avoid protectionism, and deal with negative externalities.

5

In the ensuing decades, however, these objectives became less

critical. As a result, preferential trade agreements (PTAs)—“any re-

ciprocal trade agreement between two or more partners, not neces-

sarily belonging to the same region”

6

Regional Trade Agreements and the WTO, WTO, https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/

region_e/scope_rta_e.htm (last visited Dec. 15, 2023). The WTO distinguishes regional trade

agreements—”any reciprocal trade agreement between two or more partners, not necessarily

belonging to the same region”—from PTAs, but PTAs are in practice used to refer to both

regional trade schemes and “unilateral trade privileges such as General System of Preferences

—have “become a universal

1. ABDESSALAM JALDI, THE CRISIS OF MULTILATERALISM VIEWED FROM THE GLOBAL SOUTH 5

(Policy Center for the New South, 2023).

2. Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, Apr. 15, 1994, 1867 U.N.

T.S. 154 [hereinafter WTO Agreement].

3. Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, General Agreement on

Tariffs and Trade 1994, Apr. 15, 1994, Annex 1A, 1867 U.N.T.S. 187 [hereinafter GATT].

4.

5. Id.

6.

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