In the current international context, Asian countries have become prominent in the global governance of trade
because of their activity in negotiating free trade agreements (FTA). Many Asian
economies are preferable trade partners for the European Union (EU) that is
seeking FTAs with the region. Importantly, the EU’s trade agreements are “new
generation” FTAs, being wider and deeper than those before, also adhering to
the ideas of responsible business and sustainable development.

This study aims to explore the
impacts that free trade agreements may have on responsible business in Asian
economies. Our focus is on the inclusion and impacts of ‘sustainable
development issues’ in trade negotiations and agreements. Doing so, we respond
to recent calls for inquiry into FTAs that are changing the institutional
frameworks of trade governance. The study begins by reviewing the origins of
the discussion on sustainable development in international conventions. Empirically,
we apply content analysis to investigate the texts of the EU’s three FTAs with
Asian countries, i.e. South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam, as well as data from six
semi-structured interviews with trade policy officials to study the motives, agendas and contested issues of the
negotiations. 

Based on the findings, we argue that while these
FTAs are non-binding on sustainable development issues, they mediate forces
that push towards more strict rules on sustainability that are new in the Asian
context. Our main finding is the gradual evolution of the three EU-Asian FTAs
towards including more explicit clauses on environmental and labour issues.
This conforms to the idea of multilateralizing regionalism, i.e. that issues
may be first agreed in bilateral FTAs and then gradually transferred to the broader
multilateral level. Despite not incurring direct impacts on firms, FTAs may
serve as an institutional push for Asian countries to address the need for sustainable
development in national legislation.