Finding Common Ground? European Union and European Civil Society Framing of the Role of Trade in the Sustainable Development Goals

The debate on the Sustainable Development Goals framework offered a set piece for civil society organizations/CSOs to challenge institutions such as the EU. This article maps and analyzes how the EU's framing of trade policy in the SDGs related to that of European CSOs. The process is understood in terms of the interaction of different forms of ideational power. Key lines of contestation emerged over the question of constraining market forces. The lead EU institutions adopted some of the CSO's moral economy discourse but used various techniques to insulate trade policy from interventionist thought. They allocated a new range of responsibilities to developing countries, ignored numerous political issues and rejected calls for more regulatory global governance from CSOs and the European Parliament. To do so they were able to deploy a range of ideational and institutional powers. However, EU trade policy remains full of contradictions and potential ‘rhetoric traps’.