The Treaty of Cobden-Chevalier was an Anglo-French free trade agreement signed between Great Britain and France on January 23, 1860. After Britain began its free trade policy in 1846, tariffs with France remained in place. The 1860 treaty ended tariffs on the most important commercial products – wine, brandy and silk from France, as well as on coal, iron and industrial products from Britain. The economic impact has been small, but the new policy has been widely copied across Europe. According to Stephen Krasner, the treaty sparked a “golden age of free trade” in Europe that lasted until the late 1870s. [1] It was the first of eight “most-favoured-nation treaties” negotiated by the British in the 1860s. However, in the 1880s, the rise of protectionism in Germany, the United States and elsewhere made the treaty less relevant. [2] It was the first modern trade agreement. [3] For a list of trade agreements with the EU and its Member States and brief explanations, see The Trade Policy Monitoring Committee, regularly convened by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, intends to play a key role. It brings together members of civil society (non-governmental organisations, trade unions, professional organisations) and parliamentarians and provides a unique forum for dialogue where the main current challenges can be discussed and consultations with interested stakeholders can take place before and during negotiations.

This allows their positions, suggestions and interests to be taken into account as soon as possible. France has also worked with the Council to strengthen its trade defence by modernising its instruments and revising anti-dumping methods. As a result of these efforts, a regulation on the screening of foreign direct investment entered into force on 10 April 2019, which aims to increase European participation in acquisition strategies in the approaches of state actors. The impact of these agreements has shown that they are important levers for growth and employment. Since the conclusion of a trade agreement with South Korea, EU exports to South Korea have increased by 60% and a trade surplus of €3.1 billion was reached in 2016. During a parliamentary session in 1859, Cobden`s friend and political ally, John Bright, asked why the government was not trying to persuade French Emperor Napoleon III to trade freely with Britain instead of spending money on armaments against a possible French invasion. After reading this speech, Chevalier wrote to Cobden and arranged a meeting with him in England. He discovered that Cobden intended to visit Paris in the winter for family reasons. Chevalier urged Cobden to meet with the emperor to try to convince him of the benefits of free trade.

In September, Cobden visited Chancellor of the Exchequer William Ewart Gladstone and both agreed that a trade deal between Britain and France was a good idea. The Eurasian Economic Union composed of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan has the following free trade agreements, see below here. The government supports a balanced trade policy that ensures french access to foreign markets, but preserves collective sensitivities and preferences and promotes compliance with the Paris Agreement. The government therefore supports a balanced trade policy that ensures french companies have access to foreign markets, while preserving collective sensitivities and preferences. In order to ensure the conditions for fair competition and reciprocity in the opening of markets, France is also working with the Council to strengthen its trade defence and protect its strategic sectors by increasing its anti-dumping duties and improving its control of foreign investment. On December 9, Chevalier told Cobden that Rouher had drawn up a plan for a trade agreement to be submitted to the emperor for approval the next day. However, the emperor worried about the obvious benefits that France would derive from the introduction of free trade: Britain was so dependent on trade that it was constantly afraid of war, while France could endure the war with far fewer inconveniences. Persigny, the French ambassador to Britain, warned the emperor that war with Britain was a real possibility unless some sort of alliance with Britain was signed, and that such an alliance would not matter what other European states thought. Rouher presented his commercial plan to the emperor with sixty pages of positive arguments, which the emperor approved. The emperor announced the treaty in a letter published on January 15, 1860, causing an uproar among protectionist interests. An interactive list of bilateral and multilateral free trade instruments is available on the TREND-Analytics website. [59] Given the difficulties encountered in the WTO`s multilateral negotiations, this market access is increasingly achieved through bilateral or regional agreements.

The European Union has established a very extensive network of regional preferential agreements around the world. Initially aimed at its neighbours and development partners, the European Union`s trade policy reached a strategic turning point in 2006 with the introduction of the Global Europe strategy and negotiations on “new generation” trade agreements with a broader scope (services, public procurement, non-tariff barriers). Economist Gene Grossman of Princeton University described the treaty as the “first modern trade deal.” [3] According to Stephen Krasner, the treaty triggered a “golden age of free trade.” [1] List of agreements between two states, two blocs or one bloc and one state. France also defends the proposals to follow up on the agreements to ensure true reciprocity by ensuring that our trading partners respect the commitments they have made so that our companies can fully benefit from the opening of markets. The conclusions of the European Council of 21 and 22 March 2019 call for the resumption of work in the Council on the International Instrument for Public Procurement, which should ensure reciprocity of access to public procurement. France has also proposed to strengthen the functions related to the monitoring of agreements and their compliance and to create a European Public Prosecutor`s Office to ensure compliance with these obligations. The People`s Republic of China has concluded bilateral trade agreements with the following blocs, countries and their two special administrative regions:[13] In his speech at the Sorbonne on September 26, 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke in favor of an open Europe that can protect and promote the economic interests of companies and ensure respect for our interests and respect for the rules of international trade. .