Human rights are getting cut from Britain's post-Brexit trade deal negotiations
Leïla Choukroune, University of Portsmouth “Peace is the natural effect of trade. Two nations who traffic with each other become reciprocally dependent … their union is founded on their mutual necessities.” Montesquieu’s idealised vision of trade put forward here in his 1748 treatise, The Spirit of Laws , still informs thinking today. But the reality of commerce has long turned out very differently and Britain’s future trade relationships with the EU and the rest of the world remain some of the big unknowns of the Brexit process. There is more to trade than simply exchanging goods and services. International trade today involves all aspects of human life and, as a result, EU treaties include clauses that ensure various human rights protections. But, as the UK goes about making its own post-Brexit treaties, it looks like human rights are being abandoned as a result of its weaker bargaining power. As part of the EU, the UK is a party to 40 trade deals, which cover more than ...