Talking trade over wine: Assessing the role of trade associations, bureaucratic agencies and legislative bodies in the United States-European Union and Canada-European Union wine trade disputes

After more than two decades of on and off negotiations, the United States and Canada resolved their respective wine trade disputes with the European Union (EU). The resolution of the disputes represented important victories for US and Canadian government officials that had worked for more than twenty years on agreements that would guarantee their respective wine exporters fairer access to the European market. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a descriptive analysis of the US-EU and Canada-EU wine trade disputes and the negotiations that helped resolve them. Using data collected from interviews with representatives from Canadian and US wine trade associations and Canadian and US governmental officials directly involved in the trade talks with the EU, it seeks to explore three distinct relationships that existed throughout the trade negotiation process: (1) within government (between legislative bodies and bureaucratic agencies); (2) within the private sector (between private sector trade associations, domestic and international); and (3) between government and the private sector (between legislative bodies, bureaucratic agencies, and trade associations). The ultimate findings suggest that despite differences in the institutional configuration of democratic states (presidential vs. parliamentary systems) such as the US and Canada, these states actually followed quite similar paths during the trade policy making process. Furthermore, this research argues that these similarities can be attributed to four key variables present in both cases: (1) common external problems; (2) common internal pressures; (3) common international governmental institutions; (4) common international non-governmental organizations.