Adaptation and engagement with contemporary sustainability challenges in the EU-Andean and EU-Central America free trade agreements

Comprehensive trade agreements between regional groupings in Latin America and the EU have been in place since the early 2010s. These were some of the first EU agreements to incorporate dedicated chapters for trade and sustainable development that have garnered criticism due to their limited enforceability and failing to transform social and environmental circumstances on the ground. Trade agreements are living agreements; the texts are not end points but starting points for implementation processes. After over a decade of implementation of agreements, scholars are turning their attention to implementation processes of trade and sustainability chapters and uncovering some slow gradual changes. This contribution leverages publicly available documents relating to implementation committees and elite interviews to uncover the practical reality of interactions between Latin American regional groups (Central America and states in the Andean Community) and the EU relating to trade and sustainability in the context of their trade agreements and against the backdrop of global polycrises. The analysis pays special attention to themes discussed, to parties raising issues and the nature of the discussions, whether this includes coercive demands for action, or adversarial exchanges. In so doing, it uncovers hierarchies of themes and action prioritisation within relationships characterised by significant economic power asymmetries. Unpacking the functioning of the trade and sustainable development (TSD) implementation committees contributes to the wider literature on EU-Latin American relations and a growing literature on TSD in EU trade agreements. The analysis reveals that discussions and cooperation on critical sustainability matters, even on new priorities not present when the FTAs were negotiated, help to raise the level of environmental ambitions of the parties. At the same, financial constraints on both sides, and EU unilateral measures to address the climate and environmental crisis result in different priorities for tackling these issues and tensions in the relationship.